


USS Enterprise: KIRK

by Gingeritis



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:07:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 50,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29412378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gingeritis/pseuds/Gingeritis
Summary: Ramona Hill dreamed about having grand adventures in space since she was a little girl. She never realized her dream would lead her on a strange path, that constantly intersected with someone else's. It all started on a little planet called Risa...
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 6





	1. Episode 1: Welcome to Riza

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted on ff.net.

"Scotch on the rocks." She stated tapping the bar as the bartender passed. He nodded his head in understanding and moved to help someone at the end of the bar. She slid on one of the stools and crossed her legs. The sarong she was wearing slid away revealing a generous amount of skin. She huffed silently at the sudden loss of cover but left it be as the bartender returned with her drink. A smile spread across her lips accompanied by a playful wink. "Thank you." The bartender returned the smile before moving on to the next patron. It had been a while since she could just enjoy a drink without being interrupted, she took her time bringing the glass up to her nose and inhaling the aroma of the liquid. She let out a small content sigh before taking a small taste. It burned as it went down but that didn't stop her from enjoying the drink.

Her face flushed as the alcohol heated her from within. Her fingers toyed with the cool glass before she brought it to her forehead. A murmur of content fell from her lips.

"I take it you're enjoying your drink." Her head tilted to the right but she didn't look. As she brought the glass away from her face the ice jostled and shifted clinking against the glass.

"Maybe a little too much." as she noticed some of the other male patrons and a few women looked her way.

"Is this seat taken?" He asked pointing to the empty stool beside her.

"It's all yours." She replied offhandedly waving her hand as she did.

"This your first time on Riza?" He asked leaning forward. She brushed the obvious come on with a question of her own.

"Do you come here often enough to spot the newcomers?" She watched as a look of surprise flashed across his face before he regained his composure.

"I didn't know I was being rude but how about we start over. My names Captain James T. Kirk." He stated emphasizing the Captain and sticking out his hand. She knew what he was doing but decided to play along.

"It's nice to meet you, Captain. Ramona." She replied with a coy smile offering her own hand. She saw his grin widen a fraction as he took her hand.

"So what brings you to Riza Captain?" She asked as she took her hand back, taking another dram of her scotch.

"A little R&R and I couldn't help but notice you didn't offer a last name," he answered with his own counterpoint.

"True," she answered simply, trying to hide her smile behind the glass as she took another sip of her drink.

"Are you going to offer one?" he asked watching her with faint curiosity.

"No," she replied shortly this time letting him see her smile; satisfied when he mirrored her expression.

"Alright, I know when to take the hint." holding up his hand in mock defeat.

"What brings you to the planet of pleasure?" he continued with a slightly husky quality.

"Same as you, just a little R&R." she answered with a slight shrug; taking a swig finishing off her drink. The bartender returned silently asking if she required another. She waved her hand over the top of the glass to signify she was fine and he moved on.

"I'm sorry to cut this short Captain but I have an early morning tomorrow and I should really get back to my room." She moved to stand placing both her palms on the bar twisting to step down. He caught her wrist gently, she tensed at the contact but waited for his move. She knew his reputation but she could see why many women fell for his charm, she wanted to see where he was going with this.

"I'm sure your Captain will understand, stay enjoy yourself. No offense but you look like you could use it." She raised an eyebrow as a smile slowly crept across her features. She relaxed back into her stool, looking to him for his next move.

"And how do you suggest I do that?" Her voice taking on a playful seductive tone leaning on her elbow as she waited for him to respond. He mirrored her movements and she could feel the air around them become tense for a whole other reason.

"There are a few things I could suggest, but something tells me you wouldn't go for them." He replied in a low husky murmur as a smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.

"Try me, Captain." She purred, watching as his eyebrow rose.

They spent the next hour seated at the bar toying with the other. It had been a long time since Ramona had this much fun just talking with someone.

"So I know you know who I am and what ship I come from. What about you?" What ship do you call home?" He asked as the night started to wind down. She gave him a small wistful smile before answering.

"The USS Nova." He heard a hint of pride lace through her tone.

"I've heard of the Nova; a Science vessel." a second later he gave a sympathetic cringe accompanied by a sharp intake of breath through his teeth.

"I've heard the Captains a bit of a hardass. Captain...Hill if I'm not mistaken. Is he as much of a tight ass as I've heard?" He asked giving a small chuckle, he failed to notice Ramona tense at the mention of the Captain.

"I hadn't heard..." She mumbled losing all humor. He noticed the change in her demeanor and was about to change the topic when she smiled politely and went to stand again. He grabbed her near the elbow stopping her from taking off.

"Hey look sorry didn't mean to offend you. You seem to hold your Captain in high regards, I respect that." He back-peddled. She smiled softly as she pulled her arm gently from his grip.

"Listen, I had a really nice time tonight but it's late and I should be heading back to my ship." She took a step away, he nodded reluctantly but stopped her one last time.

"At least tell me your last name, so I can find you again." He gave a playful smirk, which she couldn't help but return. She opened her mouth to reply but stopped when another person stopped next to the pair.

"Captain Hill, is he bothering you?" The man's voice cut in protectively. She watched as emotions flashed across Kirk's face.

"Everythings fine Quinn. I was just on my way back." She nodded at her second in command.

"You didn't check in we were worried something had happened, it's unlike you." He continued glancing at the still frozen Captain.

"I know Quinn, I know. Head on without me I'll join you in a second." She stated giving him a look. He nodded once giving one final glance at Kirk before taking his leave. She was a little surprised when Kirk started to laugh.

"I can't believe you let me sit there and stick my foot in my mouth." He murmured running a hand through his hair.

"What can I say your cute when you're flustered." Letting the joke slip before she thought about what she said. He smiled at her but didn't comment.

"I really did have a good time tonight. It's been a long time since I could relax with someone." She replied honestly giving him a sincere smile as she moved forward and placed a kiss on his cheek before leaving the bar, ignoring how her sarong left nothing to the imagination. She turned back when she reached the door placing a hand on the frame, she was happy to see he was still watching her. A smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth, she gave a sultry wink before disappearing through the door. She didn't miss the look of shock or the grin that spread across his face at the silent challenge. They knew they would see each other again, and he was looking forward to the next encounter.

-0-

She made her way to the shuttle port and saw her second in command waiting patiently for her arrival. He gave a slight nod in greeting.

"Are you sure that was such a good idea?" He asked as she came closer.

"Oh, it's harmless, even if it was the one and only Captain James Tiberius Kirk." She laughed playfully, climbing in the shuttle.

"Actually I was referring to your outfit." He chuckled from behind her, her head turned back sharply. She shoved his shoulder before taking her seat. He chuckled as he took his seat. "And might I say what a lovely outfit it is Captain." She heard from the front of the shuttle. She gave a look to the pilot. "Eyes on the sky Ensign." She stated trying hard to keep from smiling at the compliment. "I never should have come down here. Especially in this." She added lifting the sheer fabric letting it slip through her fingers.

Quinn rolled his eyes but smartly kept his mouth shut. "Oh, and you wont believe what he said to me, well what he heard about me. He called me a tight ass. Can you believe that?" She added her arms moving rapidly, giving a humorless chuckle. Quinn tried very hard not to let a smile take over his features. The pilot gave a soft chuckle. She glanced between them before rolling her eyes and tossing her hands in the air before leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms.

"Did I tell you how lovely you look, today Captain?" Mathews responded giving her a playful smile. "I'm not sure how I fell about my pilots' eyes wandering while he's transporting me." She responded but the lack of conviction made the occupants of the shuttle chuckle.

"Tell me again why we couldn't just beam up?" Quinn asked glancing around the shuttle in mild disgust. "You could have beamed up, no one was stopping you." She replied tartly but gave a smile to show she wasn't serious.

"Of course I can, but why won't you?" He tried again.

"Yeah, captain. Not that I don't like transporting you, it's just awfully strange." Mathews added as they started the landing procedures.

"I'm just not a fan of transporters that's all." She replied solemnly. The shuttle took on a tense silence in the wake of her comment. She sat in thought for a few more seconds before snapping out of a memory.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make this depressing," she murmured forcing a smile. "It's fine captain," Quinn responded watching her closely, never having seen her so out of it. "No harm captain." Mathews chirped from the pilot's seat, trying to lighten the mood.

The shuttle jostled slightly as it touched down in the shuttle bay. "Welcome back Captain. I would have liked an update if you were planning on being late. Or did you deliberately keep me in the dark just to make me wait for you?" Her chief engineer grumbled as she stepped off the shuttle. "You know how I love to make you wait for me," Ramona replied with a playful smile. Brooks shook his head and chuckled. "I should have expected that." He replied as he moved aside. "Mathews, didn't your shift end two hours ago?" Brooks asked with a scowl on his face.

Mathews rubbed the back of his head as he stepped off the shuttle. "Yeah, sorry Lieutenant. I heard that the captain was in a bikini and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to see it." He replied with a smirk. Brooks glared at the young ensign, but before he could say anything Ramona intervened. "Let it go he's had his fun, but the next time you commandeer a shuttle without permission I might have to make you clean the cargo bay with a tooth-brush." She stated with a firm voice. Mathew's eyes widened slightly before responding. "Yes ma'am." and he took off across the bay and out the door. Quinn and Brooks chuckled as they watched him go. "You were too easy on him," Brooks mumbled as they left the shuttle bay.

"How was my baby while we were gone?" Ramona asked as they headed to the turbo lift. "Everything's running smoothly. The transporter in transporter room three has given some interesting readings I was going to take a look at that tomorrow." Brooks stated as they stepped into the lift. Ramona gave a pointed look to Quinn who rolled his eyes. "Good work Lieutenant. Get some sleep we're moving on tomorrow." Her voice firm with authority. The turbo lift stopped and opened. "And Brooks." She added softer, the chief engineer turned back to her, waiting. "Thank you." she gave a nod and a friendly smile. A small smile tugged at his lip, he merely nodded in return before heading down the hall to his quarters.

Quinn and Ramona stood in silence as the turbo lift moved to their deck. Both lost in thought neither willing to break the silence. The turbo lift doors opened and they both exited moving down the hall toward their quarters.

"Goodnight Captain," Quinn stated as he stopped in front of his quarters. She turned giving a smile. "Goodnight Adrian." he nodded once before tapping in his code and entering his quarters. She let out a small almost inaudible sigh. He worried about her too much, but then again that was his job. She shook her head and typed in her door code and entered the dark quarters. "Computer Lights. 50 percent" she murmured to the quiet room. As requested the lights illuminated the lonely room. She rubbed her neck gently as she moved to her bedroom. "What a day," she mumbled to no one.

She changed and moved to the comm desk in her quarters. "Computer--never mind." she started and stopped moving away from the desk to a picture on her night stand. She touched it gently lost in thought, her memories dancing through her mind. She snapped out of it and moved back to the comm.

"Captains Personal log...Ramona Hill." She waited for a second and then continued.

"I meet a fellow Captain on Riza today. A one James T. Kirk..."


	2. Episode 2: Distress Call

It had been a week since Ramona's run-in with Kirk and she hadn't really thought about him since. They were at warp and making great time on their way to Deep Space Two. However, there was nothing taking place but routine maintenance and boredom.

"You know I really hate this color," Ramona stated breaking the silence of the bridge, as she looked down at her command gold top.

"It clashes horribly with my hair," she added toying with her bright red locks, ignoring the stares and chuckles from the crew on the bridge. She crossed her legs as she stared forward in thought.

"Might I suggest you pick another color captain," Quinn responded as he passed by her captain's chair on his way to his work station. A few of the crew members chuckled glad to have a distraction.

"I'm thinking." She mumbled deep in thought.

"I know! How about lavender?" She asked glancing up with excitement.

"It would go great with my hair and bring out my eyes." She added with amusement.

"Yes that's true, that would be the perfect color. Let me just contact Starfleet and have them change all captains uniforms to soft lavender. That would go over well." Quinn replied with a playful smirk as he looked over reports. Ramona gave a soft chuckle "Fine, fine no more fashion changes. How are we looking?" She asked looking to her second in command.

"Everything seems to be in order Captain." He replied.

Not a second later a beeping came from the communication desk. Ramona swiveled to look to her comm officer, waiting for an update.

"It's a distress call, captain. The USS Pegasus. They're being attacked by Klingons. Critical condition." The communications officer filled in quickly. Ramona turned back around in thought.

"Are there any ships in the area?" She asked her helmsmen.

"We're the only ship in range. Enterprise is a close second." Mathews answered.

"Captain we don't have the firepower to hold off a bird of prey. We're just a science vessel." Quinn added.

"Not to mention it could be a trap." He added carefully watching her weigh the options.

"Put the coordinates in and punch it." She ordered firmly, it most definitely was a trap. She could see Quinn wanted to argue with her but wisely remained quiet.

"Captain we just got an update on the Pegasus. They just launched escape pods and the Klingons are starting to focus their fire on them." Her comm officer informed.

"How far are we from the Pegasus?" Ramona asked Mathews.

"Not close enough." He answered with frustration. A short time later they dropped out of warp.

"Status on the Pegasus. Why isn't it defending the escape pods?" Ramona asked sitting forward in her captain's chair watching the events on her view monitor.

"He initiated the self destruct sequence," Mathews responded in horror. "With the escape pods so close, he's going to kill his entire crew. What is he doing?" Ramona asked in anger as she stood from her chair. "How many can we beam aboard?" She directed to Quinn, who immediately started locking on the survivors.

"Defend the Pods." She ordered as she stood behind her helmsman.

"Captain the Klingons have turned their attention to us," Mathews stated with hesitation.

"How many have we beamed aboard?" She directed to Quinn.

"Not even half." He murmured angrily. She leaned forward punching a pair of coordinates.

"Jump to warp." She ordered Mathews who was staring at the coordinates in confusion. "Captain?" Quinn exclaimed standing from his station.

"Do it," She commanded not looking at anything but the view screen.

"What are you doing?" Quinn blurted angrily. She gave him a warning look. She leaned over Mathews again. She pulled up a picture of a Klingon bird of prey.

"We only have one shot at this. When we jump back aim for this spot." She ordered. "Now." She added. "Beam as many as you can we're going to have to jump to warp again almost immediately." She stated looking to Quinn for confirmation, who was immediately back at his station finally realizing what she was doing.

"Jumping in and out of warp could damage the core." He added as an afterthought. "I know." She murmured as they jumped back into hostile space. "Brooks won't be happy." He murmured. A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "I know…"

It was a flurry of noise and torpedoes. They jumped in and out of warp just enough times to beam aboard survivors and avoid receiving heavy damage.

"What the hell are you doing to my ship?" Ramona heard from her comm. She wanted to laugh at her engineer but now was not the time.

"We've got a rescue mission underway, a little busy Brooks." She answered with slight irritation.

"If you keep up what you're doing, you could damage the core, and then we'd be no better than the Pegasus." He answered with irritation of his own.

"Understood." She growled before closing the comm.

"How many survivors do we have left?" She asked looking at Quinn, they only had a few more jumps before they would be exactly like the Pegasus.

"Eight or ten it's hard to get an accurate reading when we keep jumping." He answered with slight frustration.

"If we stay longer do you think we could get the rest?" she asked giving him a pointed look. "Yes, but can we hold them off long enough to pull it off." He murmured. "We just have to hold them off until the enterprise arrives - Do it," she responded her voice hard.

They jumped back in a flurry of cannon and torpedo fire. "Captain weapons are offline." Mathew's voice broke through the noise.

"How many more survivors?" She demanded. "Just two but it's hard to get a reading. They're still on the Pegasus." Quinn responded glancing up from his station.

"I think the Klingons realize it because they've concentrated their fire back on the Pegasus." Mathews cut in. Ramona's head shot up to the view screen in anger.

"They're targeting the captain." She ground out. "Move us between the ships." She ordered. "This is suicide captain." Quinn responded angrily. "Just beam them aboard." She stated calmly. An eerie calm settled over the bridge. Before they could receive any more damage there was a beeping from the comm. She held her breath.

"Captain it's the Enterprise," Mathews responded excitement lacing his voice.

"They're hailing us, Captain." Her comm officer stated. She let out a rush of air.

"Put them on-screen," she responded sharply, wanting to waste no time.

"Looks like you could use a little help." Kirks face entered the view screen.

"Can you draw their fire? We've got two survivors left on the ship and our weapons are disabled." Ramona forgoes the playful banter, getting straight to the point. Plan in place they disabled the bird and beamed aboard the remaining survivors.

"Punch it, Mathews," Ramona stated gliding back into her captain's chair. They jumped to warp with the Enterprise right behind them. She let out a sigh before turning to her second in command. "Did you transfer over their ship's logs to find out what happened?" He gave a short nod. "Good." She stood up again and headed to her ready room.

"Quinn, can I see you for a moment?" She stated more as order more than a question.

As the door closed behind him; Quinn stood in the center of the room as she moved behind her desk. "You know I value your opinion, that's one of the reasons I chose you. You're not afraid to state your mind and offer an alternative, but if you ever question my orders in front of the crew again." She ground out letting it trail at the end.

"Yes, sir." He replied in a clipped manner. "Hail the Enterprise and request Doctor Leonard McCoy, Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, and Captain James Kirk. Oh, and find the Captain of the Pegasus. Send him to my ready room." She stated with a slight glare as she sat down at her desk. "Yes, sir. But why McCoy and Scott?" he asked as he stood before the door. "We have wounded undoubtedly and McCoy is one of the best doctors Starfleet has to offer and our med bay could use the help and not to sound childish but our med bay is more advanced than the Enterprise. As for Scott, Brooks will need some help that can keep up with him." She replied with a wry smile. Quinn nodded once before heading out of the ready room to carry out her request.

"You wanted to see me, Captain Hill." Captain of the Pegasus drawled as he entered her ready room. She had to hold her tongue.

"Yes, I wanted to know why your ship was so close to Klingon space." She stated standing up slowly trying to be as calm as possible.

"That's really none of your concern." He answered with indifference. She didn't see Captain Kirk enter the room.

"Really? It's not my business? How about I risked my ship and my crew to save yours and all you can say is its none of my concern." She answered with a little more force.

"If you had a better plan entering the fight you wouldn't have sustained the damage you did." He mocked.

"You should have just waited for the Enterprise. At least that Captain knows what he's doing. How did you even manage to get a ship?" He ground out.

"You're avoiding the question, what were you doing so close to Klingon space, Captain." She stated glaring.

"I mean were you deliberately trying to start a war. That's the only possible explanation as to why you would be so close to the border. Where any captain worth his salt would know, there are plenty of Klingon itching for a fight. So tell me again Captain why were you in Klingon space." She added placing her palms flat on her desk.

"How do you know it wasn't a mission of Peace. Maybe we were trying to open negotiations to the Klingons." He added with a raised eyebrow. She tried hard not to bark out a laugh.

"Because if it was a mission of Peace you could have said that from the beginning. And second, there are more qualified people to negotiate with the Klingons. Hint it's not you or your crew. You'd need the best Xenolinguist in the fleet." She wanted to yell but she held herself in control.

"Oh and I'm guessing that's you then," he responded with sarcasm. "I'm flattered you think so highly of my skills but I was thinking more Nyota Uhura from the Enterprise. If they were going to send anyone to talk a peace treaty with the Klingon it would be the Enterprise. But if you knew anything about the Klingons you would know negotiations in the past have gone so poorly that Starfleet would be negligent if they were to send another peace mission. So tell me what were you doing so close to Klingon space." She glared.

"It's classified. How's that for a better answer." He glared back. "If you want to do it this way then fine, but expect Starfleet to get my full report on this." She ground out getting fed up with him. "Get out of my ready room. Captain." She didn't look up as he left the room.

"Can I help you, Captain Kirk?" She replied calming down.

"You sent for me." He responded with a smirk. "Right sorry I did. I wanted to say thank you for aiding the rescue of the Pegasus crew. And for letting me borrow your doctor and engineer." She added with a small smile. He nodded before shifting

"I hate to say it but he's right." He added using his captain voice.

"He's right about what?" Her head snapped up dangerously.

"You shouldn't have entered that fight. You were outgunned, but I'm impressed you managed to get the survivors and your ships still in one peace." He stated cautiously. She leaned forward on her desk. "I know we were outgunned but they were firing at the escape pods and the Pegasus was doing nothing to protect them. He had actually initiated the self destruct with most of the pods within range." She murmured dejectedly.

"The Klingons were firing on the escape pods?" He asked clarifying, a look of uncertainty on his face.

"That doesn't sound like them. They like a fair fight, honor and all that." He added waving his hand offhandedly.

"I know that's why this whole thing puzzles me." she wiped a hand through her hair in exhaustion. They stood in silence for a few minutes before Kirk broke it.

"So you're a Xenolinguist?" he asked with a smirk. "Yes. I was a communications officer before I got my command." She answered with a small smile. "That means you have a talented tongue." He replied with a smirk. For the first time in a long time, she blushed.

They went their separate ways to assess the damage of their ships.

She sat in her quarters looking over the logs from the USS Pegasus. None of it was making sense. Finally, she switched over to the video log for the view screen hoping to find what she was missing by listening to the Klingon side of this. She wasn't a comm officer anymore, but she made sure to keep up on her languages. After a few hours, she concluded that the Pegasus was there to start a fight and using evidence she sent her report to Starfleet. She sat back on her small couch and let out a small sigh. Nothing about this situation sat right with her, but it wasn't in her hands anymore. She knew she'd hear back from them in a few weeks or so with a decision.

She decided to take a walk through her ship to clear her head. She threw on casual clothes and started her trek to no place in particular. She wound up in Engineering. She was expecting the silent hum of the core but was surprised when she heard shouting. She knew it wasn't serious but she was intrigued all the same.

"Get off that." She heard a thick accent bark at someone. She saw a small alien perched up higher, making noises and waving his arms. The Scot was looking up at him and waving back wildly barely making sense. She couldn't help the small giggle escape her lips. It was louder than she thought because they stopped their bickering and turned to her. She held up her hands in surrender.

"I'm sorry to disturb you I was just taking a walk." She replied with a friendly smile. "It's a little dangerous to be wandering around here. I'm not familiar with the ship and its accommodations but I don't think engineering is on the approved list for sight-seeing." Scotty replied with a smile.

"It can be when you're the captain." She replied with a playful smirk as she watched his face drain of color. "Don't worry, I really was just taking a walk. I'm Captain Ramona Hill, and I'm very grateful for you coming to help with my ship. It took quite a beating." She added holding out her hand.

"Montgomery Scott and that little bugger up there is Keenser. You have a lovely ship, not as beautiful as the Enterprise but she's a good ship." She should have been slightly offended but there was just something about him that made her smile.

"It's nice to meet you, I won't disturb you any further or Brooks will be all over me tomorrow morning." She smiled at the duo before heading to the door. "It was nice meeting you Captain." He replied before getting into another argument with Keenser. She shook her chuckling as she left engineering. What an interesting pair.

She was passing close to the mess hall when she passed by two men she knew weren't part of her crew. They were both in science blue and in a small argument. Well to be fair one of them was upset the other just raised his eyebrow as the man went on about something. As she passed they paid her no mind, she knew they looked familiar and it clicked the stoic one must be Kirks first officer Spock; the half Vulcan. The other she wasn't as familiar with, but whatever they were arguing about seemed to upset him. She shook her head, the enterprise must be one interesting ship to work aboard.

She finally decided to get some sleep and headed back to her quarters.

She punched in her code stretching her muscles as she walked to her bedroom; changing into her sleep clothes. She kissed her fingers touching the picture next to her bed. "Computer lights." She murmured before her quarters went dark. She slipped under the covers and rolled on her side slipping into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrian Quinn: Second in Command, Mathews: Ensign navigator, Brooks: Lieutenant Chief Engineer.
> 
> Review with any questions, concerns, or anything in between.


	3. Chapter 3: Orion Women

After the incident with the Pegasus, she finally heard back from Starfleet with their decision. It seemed the higher-ups deemed it an accident and dropped the issue. To say the crew of the Nova were upset would be an understatement.

"I know you're all upset, but the best thing from here on out is shrug it off and move on. There's no use stewing over it." She addressed the bridge, but Quinn could see her index finger tapping on the arm of her Captain's chair, a clear sign she was agitated.

"It's been a few weeks and they weighed the options carefully. The best thing we can do now is move on." She finished trying very hard not to come off cross. The bridge fell into a comfortable calm as they ran normal procedures. The comm beeped, but Ramona didn't turn, waiting patiently.

"Captain we're being hailed." Her comm officer stated in the silence.

"Put it on-screen." She replied calmly.

"It's good to see you, Captain Hill." A friendly voice floated over the bridge.

"And you Admiral. What do I owe the pleasure of your call." She replied with a smile.

"We have a mission for you. The details are being sent to you as we speak. I know your ship doesn't exactly handle these types of missions but you and your crew are the only ship within range, that have the skills we need." He replied firmly.

"What is it that you need Admiral?" She asked glancing down at the Padd Quinn handed her with the details.

"I need you to find missing data. When the Pegasus was recovered they noticed raiders stripped vital information that should have been destroyed." He replied with irritation.

"I would normally call upon the Enterprise for this, but they're preoccupied with another mission at the moment. And with your history, I couldn't think of anyone more qualified. We need you to infiltrate and retrieve the information; intelligence has narrowed down the location of the missing data to this system." He stated showing the system they were to head to. She looked over the information, her eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Admiral, just to clarify. You're asking us to infiltrate the Orion Syndicate to take back our data?" She asked cautiously.

"That's precisely what I'm asking Captain. Is there a problem?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"No problem at all I just thought it was something a little more challenging is all." She replied with sarcasm slipping in her voice. Causing some of her crew to stifle chuckles. Admiral Archer gave a small chuckle.

"I have missed your humor Captain." His face became serious.

"This mission is of the utmost importance captain. If the Klingons get their hands on this information, it could end badly for us all." He replied firmly.

"I understand Admiral, consider it done. Nova out." She replied signaling her comm officer to close the channel.

She sat back in her chair in thought. This was going to be tricky not to mention extremely dangerous. "Set coordinates, Orion Colony, warp three." She directed to Mathews before standing from her chair and heading to her ready room. Quinn following silently behind her.

"Captain, I would like to lead the away..." She held up her hand slightly.

"This is too delicate to send a landing party." She murmured looking over the data.

"What do you have in mind?" He asked cautiously. She looked up slowly.

"We need to send someone alone to slip in, gain their trust. They can listen in on conversations, so we need someone with a background in Xenolinguistics..." She mumbled glancing at him watching as realization crossed his features. "You can't mean you're going to be the one. Captain that's crazy." He replied with slight frustration.

"I'm the only one qualified to do it." She replied calmly waiting for him to calm down. After a few minutes of incoherent rambling, he relented.

"What's your plan?" He asked sitting down. "I'm going to pose as an Orion slave girl. That reminds me I need to brush up on some things." She mumbled as she looked across her desk for something. He watched her in complete shock.

"You can't be serious?" He asked with a dry laugh. "As a heart attack." She replied finding what she was looking for and standing up. "Now if you'll excuse me, Commander. I need to go see the doctor." She replied moving to the door.

-0-

They made it to the Orion Colony in record time. "You remember the plan?" She asked her first officer who was still staring at her. She snapped her fingers at him with a small smirk gracing her lips. He came out of his daze and looked up at her.

"Yes, sir." He responded his neck starting to heat up in embarrassment. She shifted from foot to foot trying to come to terms with the revealing outfit she forced herself to wear for the mission.

"When this is all over remind me to congratulate the doctor on a job well done," Ramona murmured as they stood on the transporter pad. "You must have been in med bay for hours. Becoming green can't be easy." Quinn replied with a small smirk. She shot him a look. She really hated transporters and he wasn't helping with his jokes.

The Admiral wanted this to be handled quickly and quietly. She hoped she could get this done without issue or she was going to wind up dead.

"I wasn't aware that one of the slaves escaped." She heard one of the Orion men reply as she tuned back into the conversation. "It was on one of the smaller raiding party ships, they were ashamed to admit that they were unable to detain a single slave," Quinn answered calmly, it was a weak lie but they rarely asked questions.

"It was very generous of you to return her; I was under the impression Starfleet didn't get involved in matters of this nature." The Orion trader drawled.

"Starfleet doesn't know I'm here and I'd like it to stay that way," Quinn replied giving the trader a pointed look. "Understood Captain." The Orion stated giving Quinn a subtle wink. She couldn't help the chill that ran up her spine.

"Come." The trader commanded. She followed glancing one last time at her first officer. She gave a small nod and followed.

"What was your specialty?" He stopped turning to her, speaking to her in their native language.

"Dancing." She replied in fluent Kolari. She had been brushing up on her Orion languages. It was truly a complex language. She had to pick carefully which dialect she would use in dealing with them.

"Good we lost one of our best dancers to a Klingon Commander. We shall see your skill soon," he replied as they continued through the hallways.

-0-

She had been undercover for almost a week and she had picked up some valuable information, but not quite what she was looking for.

"Girha, your up next." One of the Orion traders directed to Ramona. There was a large group no doubt a large deal about to be negotiated. This might be the opening she was looking for. She gave a nod and went to the darkened area to the side and crouched down waiting for her signal. She scanned the crowd but kept it from being obvious. She nearly made a sound when she saw Captain Kirk and two of his crew sitting among the bodies present.

"What the hell is he doing here?"She mumbled under her breath. She hadn't heard any rumblings among the traders about the Enterprise being in the area. Starfleet must be getting desperate to send another team on this mission. She heard the murmurs of the large crowd as they haggled over prices, honor, and many other things. When the rumblings started to get louder; her music was cued.

Lights illuminated her figure as she contorted her body to a standing position. The men of all races fell into silence as she moved her hips slowly. She ignored the barely-there outfit and did what she needed to do.

The heavy beat of the drums rumbled through her chest as she picked up the pace as the music tempo increased. She moved her hands above her head as she swung her hips; doing wide jumps and side flips moving toward the men.

She moved to Kirk. She danced around him before getting incredibly close and whispered in his ear. "Tell me, Captain, Do green women turn you on?" She asked before moving away and around to more patrons. She could feel his eyes on her back as she moved around the room. After a few minutes, the men returned to their negotiations, calmer.

She passed by a particularly large Klingon when she heard what she had been hoping to hear. The data from the Pegasus, was about to be sold. She danced closer making sure to be discreet.

She danced away with a large grin spread across her face. That was the meeting she had been waiting for. Now to finish this out and start the extraction procedures. As she finished she was walking down the hallway to her living quarters. She could feel someone behind her but ignored them and moved faster.

"Hold on." She felt a hand snake around her wrist pulling her back to face them. She let a breath of relief as she got a sight of who caught her.

"May I help you?" She asked in Kolari as she saw fellow dancers pass by with mild curiosity. "Cut the crap." He murmured getting closer.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a few of the big Orion guards coming their way, she backed up against the wall pulling him flush against her. "Play along or they'll kill you." She whispered hurriedly. Nodding he put his hand on her hip the other on the wall to support him. She buried her face in his neck putting her hands on his chest. The Orion guards moved on ignoring the two on the wall. As they passed Ramona pushed him back a step.

"Are you trying to blow my cover?" She asked angrily. "Funny, I could ask you the same thing." He replied trying very hard to ignore her outfit. "I've been here for a week, how about you?" She hissed. He looked shocked before looking to the side.

"Two days." he mumbled. She crossed her arms over her chest in irritation. "Well at least you didn't ruin anything. I've got the information I came for, maybe you can do me a favor and send this to my ship." She stated handing him a data strip. She was taking a risk by trusting him. He wasn't sure where she was hiding that, but with more time he would have liked to find out.

"See you around Captain." She whispered getting close to his ear as a few more patrons came through the hall. With that she was gone, he went the other way heading back to his ship.

She nearly sprinted down the hall trying to make it back to her appointed room to start the extraction process. She was hoping the captain didn't do something stupid and get caught, he seemed to have a penchant for that sort of thing. She moved through her room quickly gathering what little she needed.

"Where is it?" She cursed rapidly searching in her hiding spots.

She felt an arm slide around her waist and draw her close to their body. "Looking for something?" The person asked in earth standard holding out a modified tracking beacon, the very thing she had been searching for. "What...I don't understand...what is that?" she responded in Kolari trying not to give herself away.

"Do not play dumb with me." The man responded moving his hand up to her throat, gripping slightly.

"I have to admit I was fooled by you for a while, but you gave yourself away today. I've seen you dance and you seem to capture a room but you have never spoken to a customer before. Today you not only spoke to the man but solicited him without proper payment. If you had been a seasoned dancer as you claimed to be, you would have not let him near you without payment. So tell me, who are you? and why were you so adamant to find this?" he asked emphasizing by gripping her neck tighter causing her to gasp for air as he waved the device in her face.

She didn't know the man holding her by name but she knew him to be a slave guard. He had been watching her very closely since she arrived. She originally thought him to be simple-minded and infatuated with something new, but clearly, she had been wrong.

"I'm not telling you anything." She responded through strangled breaths. "I've heard that before but you'll crack like the rest of them." He stated adding slightly more pressure. "Fine...fine...whatever you do don't push the button on the side." she gasped out as he loosed his hold slightly. "Will it kill us?" he asked apprehensively, giving the device a better glance. "No nothing lethal, just something very uncomfortable for whoever pushes it," she replied trying to stay calm to get her thoughts together.

"I will make you push it then." He replied thrusting the device in her hand. "You might not want to be touching me when I push it." She replied quickly, stepping away slightly as he let her go, but kept a weapon pointed at her. She flicked the button and waited patiently, staring down the guard as she did. He stared at her in confusion before he started laughing. She pretended to fiddle with it and look confused at the lack of response.

The familiar hum and lights of the transporter beams swirled around her; they had never been so welcoming. She gave the guard a fleeting smirk at her rouse. The guard stopped laughing and scrambled to adjust his weapon but she was already aboard her ship.

"It took you long enough." She ground out, still reeling from the transporter. "Did you get the data?" She asked quickly. Quinn nodded. "The Captain sends his regards." He replied with a slight smirk. She could feel the light pink crawl its way up her neck, or it would have if she wasn't still green.

"Good, we need to get out of this space. Warp factor four set coordinates to Deep Space one." She relayed her orders to the bridge and made her way to sickbay.

A few hours later she was back to her pale complexion. She sent off the data to Starfleet command. It was in their hands now, they would no doubt send a special team to retrieve the missing data.

She wandered onto the bridge stretching as she did.

"It's good not to be green anymore," she stated as she flopped into her captain's chair.

"Some of the men are going to miss it, or at least the outfits." He whispered to her. She glared half-heartedly at him.

"Especially a certain Captain," he mumbled before making his way back to his station. She rolled her eyes and try to ignore the last statement but she could feel the light flush across her cheeks.

She had heard back from Admiral Archer with a special thanks and apology for sending in another team. She waved it off, glad to have the help. A bit of warning would have been nice, but she wasn't going to tell an admiral that.

"I don't know about you but I could use a little Rest and Relaxation," Ramona stated as she gave a big yawn and a stretch.

"I bet you could Captain. I bet you could." He replied, thinking of a certain captain as he did. She knew what he was implying.

"Oh, shove it, Quinn." She replied tartly as the rest of the crew chuckled.


	4. Episode 4: Old West

"Really Captain, if I didn't know any better I would say you like to play dress up." Quinn joked as they studied the people of this planet.

"Oh hush up." She mock glared as she used the decorative fan, to hide most of her face.

"We're scientists sometimes you have to make sacrifices." She chuckled. He rolled his eyes, but she knew he wasn't as upset with this mission as he seemed to be.

"These people seem interesting but they're so primitive compared to us, what do you expect to learn from them?" Brooks grumbled from her other side. "You call yourself a scientist, I'm ashamed." Ramona mocked from behind her fan. He shot her a look of contempt. "I get studying these people, I do but was this all really necessary." His hand waving around the newly constructed, old west style saloon. "I don't really think we're suppose to implant ourselves in their culture, don't we usually set up hidden observation rooms," Mathew asked from the side, keeping his voice low.

"Yes, as long as we don't do anything stupid, what better way to learn about them than being a part of them." Ramona replied as she adjusted the corset. "Their fashion leaves something to be desired." She mumbled finally getting fed up with the outfit. It was fun for a while but now it was becoming an irritant. It was so tight and had so many laces and ruffles. Not to mention itchy.

They had been on this planet for a few weeks now, Starfleet sent them to observe the culture. It was similar to earth's old west. The planet held no real value, other than a few minor resources, but they were sent to observe and report back. And from that point on Starfleet would keep an eye on the planet and monitor its development.

"It really is an interesting culture." She finally stated, giving up on the dress. She was cut off from further comment when the doors of the saloon were pushed open roughly. The clanging of spurs the only thing heard as the other patrons turned to the door. A group of three men looked around the saloon taking it all in.

"Can I help you boys with anythin'?" Ramona drawled fanning herself slightly while watching the newcomers carefully. Brooks, Mathew, and Quinn eyed them from their various positions along the bar.

One, in particular, let a smile slide across his face as he made his way to the bar. "I think there just might be." He replied eyeing her with a less than friendly glint in his eye. The others tensed ready to defend their captain. She raised her eyebrow but waited for him to continue.

"Knock it off." The second man barked before turning to Ramona. "We're looking for someone." He stated. Again she waited for him to continue. He gave her an irritated look. "Anybody by the name of Rocky, come through here?" He asked eyeing the three men at the bar, who seemed to be watching their conversation carefully. "You're going to have to be more specific, darlin'." She replied carefully, but with an air of boredom.

"His names Roscoe Williams." The third man grumbled from his spot by the door. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man in the far corner tense and reach for his gun. "I ain't heard of him." She replied, cringing on the inside for the terrible grammar.

"Now I'm going to have to ask you boys to leave. You seem to be disturbin' my customers." She drawled eyeing them carefully. "Listen whore…" the first one started moving towards her, Brooks and Quinn reached toward their guns. The second man put his hand on the first one. "Easy, she said she ain't heard of him." "But if I find out you know somethin', well darlin', I won't stop him next time." Letting the threat hang in the air they left but not before eyeing everyone in the bar.

"Captain this is stupid. We need to leave." Brooks whispered harshly. She ignored him as she moved from behind the bar, toward the man in the corner. The three watched her cautiously.

"You mind tellin' me why three angry men came stormin' in my saloon lookin' for you." She replied eyeing the young man in front of her. "I don't know what you're talking about lady." He tried to get up but she put her hand on his shoulder and forced him back down. "You either tell me or I'll have those three men over there get it out of you." She replied pointing toward the bar. The three oblivious to what she was doing. He weighed his options before slumping his shoulders.

"Our families have hated each other for years." He started and wasn't sure where to go from there, she waited patiently. "I don't want to be a part of it." He continued.

"There's this girl…" Ah, and the real issue comes out. "She part of the wrong family, but you love her anyway." Ramona summed up from the few pieces he gave her. He looked up at her in complete shock. "How…?" "Don't sweat it, kid, I ain't gonna tell anyone. But you best be getting home to your family and keep away from this place. It ain't safe here anymore, they'll be lookin' for ya." She drawled with an undercurrent of warning. "Thank you, ma'am." He got up and practically shot out of the bar, making sure to look around for the men.

"What was that about?" Brooks demanded as soon as she got close. "It seems we've stumbled onto a Hatfield and McCoy type situation." She stated fanning herself lost in thought. The others looked at each other. "A what?" Quinn asked.

She dropped the fan down in a huff, "Did none of you read about the old west before coming down here?" they all stared at her blankly. "I wanted to see how similar this culture was to our own. So I brushed up on some history. The Hatfield's and the McCoy's massacred each other for years, over a petty family rivalry. Obviously, there's more to it but that about sums it up." She replied before moving back behind the bar. "When we return to Nova I might just have to read about them," Mathew replied slightly interested.

-0-

The next week the three men could be seen around town keeping an eye out for the young boy. "You would think they would have given up by now and gone home or something," Mathew stated as he looked out the window. "They must have a source here. He must have been spotted around here." Ramona replied as she moved around the bar.

"Incoming" Quinn replied with a smirk gracing his features. She looked at him bewildered, but that was quickly replaced with shock when she saw who wandered through the door.

"And just what do you think you're doing here?" She growled as she made her way to the newcomers. "Why, to see you of course." Kirk's smile stretched across his face as he took in her attire. The other patrons stopped to watch the scene unfold. She grabbed his arm and pulled him to the backroom and the noise level returned.

"What are you really doing here, captain?" she replied putting her hands on her hips. "We were in the area and we just finished an assignment, we detected your ship over the planet and I had to see for myself why you're breaking protocol." He replied with a smug smile. She was so irritated with him, he could ruin her assignment by being here.

"I'm not breaking protocol." She replied defensively. "Oh, really?" He asked raising a brow. "We have a station set up, but mission guidelines states I'm allowed a certain number of people to infiltrate the society to learn first hand. The protocol doesn't state that it can't be the captain." She replied crossing her arms, but in doing so caused her bosom to push up even more.

She smirked at him until she saw his expression, she wasn't sure what he was thinking, but as he moved towards her she moved back toward the door only to bump into the counter. She put her hands behind her to brace herself. Maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought, she must have struck a nerve.

His body was only an inch from hers any movement and she would be flush against him. "What…?" she didn't get to finish that thought as his lips brushed against hers. She tensed unsure what was happening, but as his body moved into hers pushing her further into the counter, she brought her hands up to his arms gripping the outer jacket so hard she was sure her knuckles were white.

She deepened the kiss and he started unwinding her hair never breaking the connection. As her hair started to fall from its confines, his other hand started to trace her spine, following along the ties of the dress. She could feel a slight tugging and her back and she could swear she heard him growl slightly in frustration. "Having trouble captain?" She asked as she pulled back. He glared at her in mock anger. "It's not my fault, this dress is poorly designed." Huffed as he tugged on a few of the strings for emphasis. "Well, women here don't make it easy for the men. They make them work for it." She replied toying with the front of his shirt with a mischievous glint in her eye.

He grinned at her before attacking her once more. This time lifting her up onto the counter and completing forgoing the corset. She responded with the same vigor. Stripping him of his jacket and tossing it somewhere. He stuck his hand under the dress and made his way up her leg. He moved from her mouth to her neck and she moaned slightly as he hit a sensitive spot, causing his grip on her leg to tighten.

There was a cough from the back door. They both froze, turning to the intruder.

She was surprised to find Roscoe Williams and a girl she assumed was from the family that came looking for him. Kirk pulled away ready to defend himself and her. She however blushed a bright red color as she straightened out her dress and tried to fix her hair as she got down from the counter. She could see the girl was just as flushed as she was if not more.

"Sorry to interrupt…" he coughed his neck getting red, "But we have nowhere else to go." He stated with pleading eyes. "And what makes you think you'll be safe here?" Ramona asked cocking her hip and watching the two carefully.

"Please we have nowhere else to go and her uncles are all over the town, but they have yet to come back here." His eyes pleaded with her. "I don't have anywhere for you two to sleep, and I don't have much here for food." She replied in a last-ditch effort to unsweeten the deal. "We can sleep on the floor and we can get our own food, please." She sighed, to be young, stupid, and in love. This she knew was breaking the prime directive, but if they could get out of here by tomorrow her involvement would be minimal.

"Fine but you'll have to stay back here until dark, that's the only time they seem to leave." "Oh thank you…" "Mona, my names Mona." She replied with a raised brow. "Thank you, Mona," Roscoe replied before taking the girl to the side to talk. That's when I felt Kirk pull me aside by the elbow. "What do you think you're doing?" "This goes against the prime directive." He stated with a hint of worry. "Oh, please like you follow the rules and the prime directive so strictly." She replied rolling her eyes. "That doesn't make it okay for you to break it, you're a good captain. I don't want you to lose your command over a couple of love sick kids."

"You don't even know me." She replied softly. "That may be true but I've looked you up like I'm sure you've done with me. Your good to your crew and you're a good captain."

"Don't worry, I was going to inform the others that we're leaving tomorrow. The sooner we can get out of here the better." She whispered with a small smile. He returned it. Silence fell over the two and the tension of what happened before the two kids showed up, returned. To avoid an episode in front of the kids, Ramona went to the washroom to fix her hair, and Kirk went back out to the bar.

She filled the others in about what was going on, Quinn couldn't help smirk at her. She glared at him.

"I take it you and the captain are on better terms."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She replied as she brushed past him to get things ready for the morning. Her face flushing as she went. She couldn't remember the last time she blushed so much.

That morning with the help of the enterprise crew that were on the planet they collected their data and dismantled and transported the observation room. They were about to beam up as well when Ramona remembered there was one last thing she needed to get from the saloon.

"Hurry up, captain," Quinn yelled after her. She sent him a look over her shoulder which had him chuckling.

She made it into town, but it seemed too quiet, usually, there would be a few people milling about. When she walked into the saloon she realized why the place was trashed. She saw a small puddle of blood on the floor. She made her way carefully to the back. No sign of Roscoe or the girl. She grabbed the revolver from under the bar and the transmitter hidden in one of the bottles. She wasn't sure if she was glad to come back for it now, she tucked the transmitter down the front of the corset. As she made her way back out the door, she was rounding a corner when she heard the tell-tale cocking of a revolver. "I wouldn't move if I were you." It was vaguely familiar but she wasn't sure which man from the three it was.

"What do you want from me?" She asked carefully. "You lied to me, sweetheart."

"No one gets away with lying to me." He replied near her ear. Her Starfleet training danced through her mind, but with the dress, she wasn't sure how much movement she had. "What are you going to do to me?" She heard him chuckle. She felt him step back, it was her chance. She spun around knocking the gun out of his hands, grabbing it, and taking off toward the others. This dress was drastically cutting down her movement. He caught her and tackled her to the ground, a cloud of dust flew up. She grunted in pain before spinning around and pointed the gun at him through the dust. She heard him coughing slightly, her eyes squinting. As it cleared he looked up in slight shock. Before he snarled at her, he moved toward her and she pulled the trigger. The crack of the gunshot rang through the silent town, she breathed in deeply, realizing she had been holding her breath. She stood up brushing herself off, soon realizing it was a fruitless endeavor. She was going to be cleaning dirt and blood off herself for a few hours after this.

"Don't move." Someone yelled to her. Her head shot up looking around. The other two men from before were watching her carefully, both their guns were trained on her. "Drop the gun." The other told her. Before she could reply a gunshot ran out from behind her. She saw Roscoe and two other men. He was waving her over frantically.

"I can't believe you shot him." He stated as she got closer. "Yeah." She mumbled still reeling from the events taking place. Soon after there were more men for both sides and a gunfight soon broke out. She tried to make her way out, but Roscoe stuck close to her. She needed to get to the others. "Go to your family, I'll be fine." She tried to lose him. "Can't they'll be coming for you, you helped me it's my time to help you." He replied looking around a corner. Before she could respond a hand shot out and covered her mouth. Her eyes were wide as she looked up at her capture. She swung out and hit the person in the arm. They laughed slightly at her attempt.

"Kirk, what the hell? You scared me. How did you even know to come back?" She grumbled. Roscoe spun around pointing his gun before he saw who it was. "We heard the gunshots. We need to get out of this town." Kirk stated. "Tell me about it." She replied tersely. A second later Roscoe slumped to the ground, she looked up and saw Kirk's second in command with his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Vulcan nerve pinch works every time." Kirk joked as they made their way out of the town.

The others were waiting. "Took you long enough." Quinn glared, taking in her state. They beamed aboard. "That's the last time, I lead an away mission. If I ever try to again, remind me of this moment." She ground out as she started to strip on the transporter pad, all the while mumbling about incoherent things. Mathew, Brooks, and Quinn all averted their eyes. Kirk raised his eyebrow.

"Thank you for your help, Captain. I must start on my report while it's still fresh on my mind." She replied placing a hurried kiss on his cheek and sweeping out of the room. Unable to stand being in her own skin.

"Did that just happen?" Kirk asked after a long pause.

"You'll get used to it," Quinn stated as the other two moved off the transporter pad.

"I'll be returning to my ship, I suppose," Kirk replied still bewildered.

"That would be a good idea captain," Quinn responded with a smirk.

"Until next time." They nodded to each other.

Quinn met up with Ramona later in the mess hall. "Wanna talk about it?" He asked quietly. "I'd rather not…" there was a long pause. She hung her head and stood up. "This was my fault." she tapped the table with her knuckles and sweeping out of the mess hall.

"Personal Log: Captain Ramona Hill…

I made a mistake today, one that I never thought I would make. I broke the rules, I disregarded the prime directive and now people are dead because of me…" Her log went on longer.

"End personal log."

She made her way to her bed and picked up the picture on her nightstand. She put her forehead against it, took a deep breath, and got herself under control. She put the picture back and slipped into bed, falling into a fitful sleep.


	5. Episode 5: It's a Trap

After the events of the old west world, Ramona had been a little more reserved with her actions. But recently she had been returning to her normal self.

It had been months since the massacre, there was a new team, a more long term research group assigned to the planet. They said Roscoe and his now-wife were alive, but most of their families had been massacred in the town. She was glad the two were alive but she wanted to put this whole thing in her past and move on.

The com indicated a hail, she turned slowly to her communications officer, waiting.

"Captain we're receiving a distress call. Audio only." She replied. "Play it." Ramona nodded.

"USS Nova we seem to have lost power to our core, we require assistance." And like that, it ended. She had never heard a distress call so calm or so short. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, this was definitely a trap. But by who.

"Captain?" Quinn asked from his station. "I know, it's a trap." She stated calmly, weighing her options. "Proceed with caution, contact the nearest starship, in case something goes wrong. As well as Starfleet. We don't need this turning into another Pegasus." She stated and waited as her orders were carried out.

She was only going warp factor one, the message wasn't rushed, so she figured she didn't need to rush either. Especially if this was a trap, she needed to buy some time for the other starships that would most likely rescue them.

_**Starship Enterprise** _

"Captain we're receiving a hail," Uhura stated. Kirk turned with a grin across his face.

"It's the USS Nova, they say they intercepted a distress call from an unknown Starfleet ship, addressed directly to them. They're on an intercept course but request assistance as the circumstances seem… less than honorable."

"So she's walking into a trap, again." Kirk mused to himself. After a brief pause, Kirk turned to his second in command.

"Spock, can you pick them up on scanners? How fast are they going?" Spock turned to his instruments. "Warp factor one, sir"

"Good girl," Kirk mumbled under his breath, a smile stretching across his lips. "Alright set a course to intercept, warp factor four."

"Aye, Aye Captain," Chekov replied as he started tapping his panel.

_**USS Nova** _

"Captain the Enterprise is on an intercept course." Ramona wanted to roll her eyes. It was like the two were following each other across the galaxy.

"Good, we'll take whatever help we can get." She ignored the stares that she was no doubtable getting from her second in command. After a few more minutes of this, she finally turned to him.

"Not a word." She ground out under her breath. "Yes, Captain." He replied with a grin.

They dropped out of warp an hour later and picked up the ship on scanners. "How many survivors?" she asked turning to Quinn. A perplexed look crossed his face before he turned to Ramona. "Just one, captain." She would have asked how that was possible, but everything about this seemed off.

"Hold course, we'll wait here until someone contacts us. No need to get stupid." She stated watching the viewscreen.

The com beeped indicating another incoming hail. "We have audio and visual."

"Put it up." A second later an older man in a Starfleet uniform graced the screen. "Thank you for answer the distress call, I thought I'd be stuck out here for quite some time." The man smiled with relief. "No problem at all, but I have a question. What exactly happened to your ship and your crew? Our scanners indicate you're the only one on board." She replied with a friendly grin.

She saw a look flash over his features before he smiled again, only this time it didn't reach his eyes. "This ship is a prototype and I only had a few others with me, the ship malfunctioned and it cost my crew their lives. I was safe on the bridge, but I'll have to live with their deaths." She felt something creep up her spine, she knew he was only telling a partial truth. She hadn't heard anything about Starfleet building new prototypes. "Do you mind if we come aboard to assist with repairs?"

"By all means captain." He replied with the same tight-lipped smile. She ended the com and turned to her first officer.

"Quinn have Brooks, his team, and two security officers beam over to assist with repairs. Do not beam that man aboard my ship?" She commanded calmly. He nodded and set to work carrying out her orders.

She got a com from Brooks a few minutes after he was beamed over. "Sir, I've never seen anything like it, it's definitely Starfleet design but… there's so much artillery on this thing… and that's not all…" but he was cut off by something in the background.

"That bastard started the self destruct sequence." She felt panic swim in her chest. "Quinn beam them back, NOW."

"We're aboard get us out of here." She felt relief at Brook's voice.

"Punch it, Mathews." "Don't have to tell me twice captain." He tapped furiously at his panel, she felt the tell-tale pull of the ship jumping to warp.

"Is the captain of that ship aboard?" she asked through the com, to the transporter room.

"Yes, captain," Quinn answered.

"Throw him in the brig, until I have a chance to talk to him." She ground out. A second later she received a hail from Enterprise.

"Everyone alright. Captain." Kirk added as an afterthought.

"For now yes. I'll explain later, how far out are you?" She asked carefully. "A few minutes, we saw the blast on our scanners." He started before she cut him off.

"I'll explain shortly, Hill out."

"Mathew set a course for earth, and send a message to Starfleet informing them of what happened." She got up making her way to the transporter room to wait for the captain.

As Kirk got aboard she explained to him what had transpired. And she could see he was just as perplexed as her.

"Care to join me?" She asked ushering him to the brig. "With pleasure." He replied shooting her a look. She wanted to roll her eyes but refrained.

They spent a good hour in the brig interrogating the prisoner but he was giving nothing away. A short time later, her bridge contacted her that there was an Admiral Marcus hailing them. She had yet to meet the Admiral so she was on high alert. Kirk shared a look with her, as they made their way to the bridge.

"What can I help you with Admiral?" She asked calmly. The admiral was older like most admirals and he had a stern look about him. "I've been sent by Starfleet, we received your message about the new ship and the traitor." He replied with a calm smile. She returned the smile and a nod.

"I'll be taking the prisoner from here, captain. He will be transported to an earth facility where we will get to the bottom of his deception." She felt this task was far below an admiral and she wanted to question what his real intentions were but she wasn't willing to take the risk and be wrong. For all she knew, the man in the brig was a valuable asset and only someone high-ranking could obtain the information, i.e. highly classified information. Sometimes she wished she was a little more impulsive like Kirk, but then again she knew that would be a terrible wish.

"Of course Admiral, I will have him transported immediately." "Thank you captain", He eyed Kirk for a second before nodding and ending the comlink. She let out a sigh.

"Get the prisoner to the transporter room." She told one of her security officers. The sooner that man was off her ship the better. She nearly lost her engineer for that traitor.

Ramona and Kirk made their way to the turbo lift. "Thank you for coming Captain, but it seems we didn't need your help after all." She stated with a tired smile. "Anytime Mona." She could see he wanted to touch her but refrained. She felt the tension increase. They both were subconsciously moving closer to each other before either could touch the turbo lift whooshed open revealing the prisoner on the transporter pad. The lights swirled and he was gone.

The prisoner was off her ship and she felt the weight lift off her shoulders. "I'm sure we'll see each other very soon," Kirk stated moving up to the pad.

"Until next time, James." She replied with a soft smile. As the lights swirled she turned around and was met with a smirking Quinn.

"It's James now, is it?" He asked. They bickered all the way back up to the bridge.

"Captain we're being hailed by Admiral Archer." She gave a look of curiosity.

"Put him on. What can I do for you, Admiral?" She asked with a curious smile.

"Starfleet received your message about the ship and prisoner, and I was calling to see what you had gotten from him so far." He stated calmly.

She sent him a perplexed look. "We didn't get much out of him before Admiral Marcus came and took him." She replied calmly feeling a weight settle in her stomach. "He said Starfleet had sent him to intercept the prisoner." She replied calmly, but she could feel her skin crawl. She saw a look pass over the admiral's face.

"Thank you Hill, I must have been misinformed. I'm glad to see your crew is in one piece. Archer out." And with that, the screen went dark.

She didn't want to think about unrest in Starfleet. She shot Quinn a look, like him hoping this was all a big misunderstanding. She left the bridge to her ready room to process the events and to see if she could wade through the lies and find a truth. Something told her this was only the beginning.


	6. Episode 6: Medieval Me

It was a few months after the interaction with the Admirals and she hadn't heard anything. She took that as a good sign, sort of.

She sat in her ready room going over her new assignment. She leaned back in her chair as she read her padd. She'd been scrolling for a few hours now and she could feel a headache creeping up the base of her neck and pulsing in her temples. She set her padd down with a soft thud on her desk and massaged her temples. She let out a groan of frustration. That was one thing she hated about being a Captain, all the 'paperwork'. She had wanted to be an explorer since she was little. That was one of the reasons she had joined Starfleet in the first place. The vast worlds, cultures and not to mention languages. She learned young that languages came easier, and she had found her calling. Her parents had been apprehensive but she was determined.

Getting out of the chair she rubbed her neck and made her way to the replicator. Hot chocolate and marshmallows, just what she needed. She paced the small room to get the blood flowing again before making her way back to the desk and plopping in her chair, careful not to spill the cocoa. She breathed in the warm liquid, sighing as she exhaled.

"Now what do we have here?" she mused to herself as she picked up the padd and resumed her reading.

"Quinn, my ready room." She stated calmly to the computer before taking a sip of her hot cocoa. The doors opened a second later.

"Yes, sir," he stated formally stopping in the middle of the room. She glanced up briefly and ushered with her data padd to take the seat. A smile tugged at his lips as he occupied the empty seat.

"Hot cocoa, really? Is it that bad?" he asked with a smile.

"Have you read the briefing?" She asked him casually. A smirk graced his lips.

"Why yes, I have. Is there a problem with the mission captain?" He asked calmly. She shot him a warning look before answering. "We have to go planetside and make contact. They have an important resource that Starfleet would like to study," she stated glancing over the report. "I still don't see the problem captain. Isn't that what we do?" He asked with a tilt of his head. She dropped her shoulders and let her head fall back.

"Yes of course, but we have to dress up again." She practically whined. This was the reaction Quinn was waiting for.

"Well yeah, aren't you happy? Don't you like dressing up?" his smile stretching across his face. She felt like smacking him with her data padd but refrained. He could be such a pain in the ass.

"Kind of, but not as a tavern wench. Do you know how uncomfortable these clothes are?" she asked sitting forward setting down the padd and the mug. "No. Do you?" He shot back.

"No, but I've heard they're terribly uncomfortable. From the pictures I've seen they look more like medieval torture devices." She replied under her breath. Quinn chuckled. "I'm sure you will be fine captain. This a routine mission, it should go quickly and smoothly," he stated.

"Who knows the enterprise could be conveniently on a mission in a neighboring system." He added his voice taking on a playful tone. "Not funny Adrian." was her flat reply.

"And actually they're on Earth for something." She replied looking away quickly and picking at a nonexistent speck on her desk. He raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly would you know that?" He asked leaning forward a mischievous smile sliding across his face.

"We're fellow captains, we're allowed to speak to each other, and it's none of your business." She replied, her tone getting slightly defensive. He put his hands up in surrender shaking his head slightly a large grin stretching across his face.

With plans in place, Quinn resumed his duties on the bridge as Ramona went about finalizing her plans for the mission.

She ran a hand through her hair in thought. It wasn't that this was going to be difficult, in fact, she knew it wouldn't be, it was the seeds of doubt sprouting in the federation that she couldn't shake. She knew she shouldn't be worried but it was always there, but it was also something she had yet to share with Kirk. She didn't want to cause unnecessary problems and she knew if she told Kirk about this he was bound to do something rash.

She finished off her cocoa and called it a day, they would be reaching the planet in a few hours and she needed to rest before the mission.

-0-

As they thought the mission was simple, quick, and only a few minor hiccups. Well, minor per se.

"I will not apologize for what happened," Ramona stated defiantly. Breathing carefully and trying to adjust the dress and its many layers, not to mention the laces.

"You don't think it was a bit excessive?" Brooks asked from her side. She shot him a look, as she tried to adjust the front of her dress, which she suspected was the main cause of the problem on the mission.

"The next time an alien species tries to...mate with you, I'll be sure to remind you of this conversation." She stated pulling a few pins from her already disheveled hair. Brooks and Quinn rolled their eyes.

"We're not saying you should have let him, but you started a barroom brawl that turned into a town-wide incident. You could have blown the mission." Quinn added trying to get her to see reason. "We're just saying, maybe you shouldn't have punched him those last ten times," Brooks added with a lopsided smile. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and her hands started to sting.

"Maybe your right," she added poking gently at her knuckles, inhaling through her teeth when she hit a sensitive spot. "You should see Doc about getting your hand fixed," Quinn stated looking over her hands.

She nodded that she would do just that.

"I want your reports by the morning." She waved over her shoulder at the two as she made her way to sickbay.

She decided to kill two birds with one stone and worked on her report while in sickbay, to the irritation of her chief medical officer.

She had made it to her quarters after an hour in sickbay. She started with the pins in her hair taking them out one by one. Tilting her head slightly she found one near the base of her skull.

"I'm going to be finding these damn things for days," Ramona murmured to herself, running her hands through her hair to find more.

"Captain you have a hail." her com officer's voice floated through the room.

"Patch it through to my quarters," she ordered softly, forgetting for a moment what she was wearing and who it might be.

"You didn't have to dress up for me." Kirks voice taking on a teasing tone. She rolled her eyes but a smile stretched across her face. "Take a good look because this will be the last time you'll be seeing me in it." Ramona did a small spin for emphasis. A smirk overtook his features. A light blush tinted her cheeks at the attention. As if shaking a thought Kirk's features changed.

"Enough about your outfit, how did it go?" He asked leaning forward slightly. She was almost glad for his reaction to her in this dress, made her feel more like a woman. Pushing those thoughts to the side, she focused on his question.

She gave him a sheepish smile and scratched the back of her head. Kirk raised an eyebrow at her behavior.

"I may have started a town-wide brawl." her voice soft a shy smile overtaking her features. He let out a loud laugh, causing her to chuckle lightly.

They spent the next few hours catching up. She enjoyed hearing about the adventures of his ship and his crew, he always seemed to find trouble, or trouble would find him.

"I don't know when I'll be able to call again. So until next time." He replied with his trademark smirk.

She smiled softly. "Until next time, captain."

She stood up and started the process of taking off the torturous dress.

A few hours later she was lace-free and pin free, she hoped. She was brushing it to make sure and walked to her bedside and sat down on the edge. Her mind started to wander and she was thinking back on the conversations she had, had with Kirk over the last month, a small smile made its way to her lips. A sudden thought struck her and she stopped mid-motion.

"Am I falling for him?" she murmured to herself. After a second she shook her head and chuckled at how absurd that sounded, but now the seed was planted and she had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She stood up to put the brush away satisfied that there were no god-forsaken pins left in her hair. She sat down at her desk and wrapped up her report, noticing that Brooks and Quinn had finished theirs as well and sent it off to Starfleet command. In the back of her mind, she knew, she was going to be reprimanded for her behavior on the planet but she just couldn't bring herself to care. She didn't expose them, but she came very close. Who knows maybe this blaze attitude had come from her time spent talking to a certain captain.

She shook her head at the very idea, he wasn't changing her. She was just working too hard, being a captain was far more than she thought it was going to be and she had just become numb to certain consequences. In the back of her mind, a little voice was telling her that, that was only part of the truth.

Standing from the desk she glanced at the bedside table and saw the picture. She picked it up, running her hand along the side, a sad smile playing across her features.

"What should I do?" her voice taking on a child-like quality. "I know his reputation, I'd have to be an idiot for not knowing, but there is just something about him that I can't seem to get enough of." she stood up taking the picture with her.

"I shouldn't get too close, he's just going to hurt me in the end if I don't stop this now. Whatever this is?" she paced the room, stopping and starting as her mind processed these strange new ideas. Making little to no sense.

"On the other side, I think you two would have really liked him," she added to the picture in her hand. Unsure of why she said it, she shook her head.

"Oh, I'm so confused and I'm asking a picture of my dead parents for advice. I must be losing it." her voice becoming strained. She moved toward the bed and flopped down backward.

"Wonderful, Ramona. Keep talking to yourself, that will help." she rolled on her side and put the picture back in its place.

"I just need sleep. Tomorrow I'll be good as new." She had no idea why she was talking to herself, but she chalked it up to being tired from the day's events, maybe taking one too many hits to the head during the brawl. Tomorrow would be a new day and these strange thoughts would be gone. She hoped.

If all else failed she would seek Quinn's advice. He seemed to approve of the relationship, but she suspected it was only that way because he liked giving her a hard time and he didn't think of it as anything other than flirting.

Quinn she had a feeling would not take well to her new-found feelings if that's what they indeed were. He was protective as a brother would be for a sister and in certain cases, it was a strange relationship for a first officer to have with his captain.

She let out a sigh, this shouldn't be bothering her as much as it was. She should be exploring the galaxy, having grand adventures not sitting in the dark of her quarters debating how the men in her life were going to react to her feelings.

"What are you getting yourself into Ramona?" With that last thought, she slipped into a fitful sleep.


	7. Episode 7: Confused as Hell Part 1

Ramona was seated by herself, slowly picking at her food in Deep Space two's food court. It had been a week since she talked to Kirk and at the moment the Nova crew was in between missions. She was bored to say the least. She let out a sigh and pushed her half eaten plate away. Sitting back in her chair she watched the people going back and forth on the space station. She slowly let her mind wander.

"Captain Hill. Please report to the bridge." the voice brought her out of her slight trance. She heaved a sigh as she stood up, she hoped she could remember the way.

She smiled as she passed by some of her crew as she made her way through the halls.

"Commander Lore you wished to see me." Ramona replied formally. She spared a quick glance around the room and smiled at the crew on the bridge in their various stations.

"We've just detected a strange anomaly." Ramona's mind immediately went to the nero incident and waited for the commander to continue, slightly more alert than she was previous. "I know what you might be thinking but this is different from the one the Romulans came through. It's almost difficult to explain, we're just getting very strange readings from this quadrant." He pointed to the data. Ramona looked it over, she may be a captain of a science vessel but she was still challenged when it came to this type of thing, but that's not to say she didn't know enough to know that these readings weren't normal.

"Have you reported this to the federation?" She asked looking up at the commander. "Of course, we even sent a formal request for a science vessel to gather more data, I'm sure you'll be receiving word of a new assignment any moment now. " She watched a slight smirk stretched across his face. "We told them you were looking for something to do." He joked lightly. She shot him a mock glare. "How thoughtful of you." she responded in a false sweet tone. The commander chuckled. Suddenly the comm officer alerted the two to an incoming message from the Nova.

"Captain Hill, we've just received a communication from the federation." She sent a knowing look to the station commander. "I'm on my way." she replied quickly.

"I wonder what they could possibly want." she smirked at the commander as she said her thanks and headed back to her ship. She shuttled back to the Nova and got her orders.

"Should be a routine mission. Data collection." Ramona yawned as she stretched in her captain's chair. "Better call everyone back to the ship." She added turning to Quinn. "Aye, aye Captain." He replied sarcastically, already tapping away at the communication panel. "Smartass." she grumbled under her breath. She heard a light chuckle.

Once they got everyone back to the ship they headed toward the strange anomaly. They were still within range of the deep space two, so transferring data was a lot easier and quicker.

These missions were her least favorite, she always felt useless and lazy just sitting around and waiting for her science officers to find something or nothing at all.

Three days had past and the readings haven't changed.

"Computer, green tea, warm." Ramona was waiting in her ready room for the daily reports. The data from the anomaly had been unchanged and Ramona was starting to get bored, but she knew with this type of thing it's a waiting game. She made her way back to her desk and waited for her tea to cool. She decided to read while she waited, after the last few missions she had been brushing up on earths history. As well as bouncing through languages to keep herself up to date. She was half way through her cup of tea and starting to feel a headache come on when her comm chirped.

"Captain, you're going to want to come and take a look at this." Quinn's voice broke through the quiet. She left her tea and made her way out to the bridge.

"What is it?" She asked coming to stand by his shoulder looking over the new readings. The data was different from the previous data but it was giving them more questions than answers. She turned to look over her shoulder.

"Open a hail to Deep space two and start data transfer." She ordered to her com officer as she looked back to the station.

Suddenly the bridge plunged into darkness. Ramona looked up and around waiting for the back up to kick in. When it didn't she felt a weight settle in her chest. She pulled out her personal communicator and called down to engineering.

"Brooks what's going on?" She asked calmly as she could. All the possibilities and scenario's flashing through her mind.

"What do you mean Captain, we're operating normally." His voice laced with confusion.

"The bridge has lost all power and the back up hasn't kicked in, you're telling me the rest of the ship is fine?" she could feel the her hairs on her arms standing on end.

"What do you mean? The computer says the bridge is fine. What's going on in there?" he asked cautiously. After a few seconds he continued. "That's weird I can't open a com link to the bridge, let me try something." He mumbled as she heard him tapping and barking orders.

"Wait...Captain!" fear crashed through the small device before it went silent. She lost all color to her face and she could feel the tension from the others on the bridge.

"Brooks!? Brooks?!" she called to him. She felt a chill shoot up her spin. She could feel the others moving around the room and opening panels trying to find a solution to the problem. She could hear a few cursing as they worked in pitch black conditions, which everyone knew on some level was pointless but they wouldn't give up that easy.

"Somebody tell me what the hell is going on?" She demanded after a few minutes. Ramona could feel the walls closing in and her breathing coming in shallow, they were cut off from the rest of the ship, life support was most likely down and they were on borrowed time until they can figure this out, not to mention the utter darkness.

Before any of them could respond the lights flickered back on. With out hesitation she flew to the comm desk and sent out a distress call along with all the data they had collected so far. She was hoping this would be a redundant measure.

"Captain is everyone alright?" Brooks voice filled the room, she could tell he wanted to say more. Ramona let out a shaky sigh, and started to respond.

"I think so" "...what the hell is that?" Ramona asked looking at the view screen, the others turned as well. Some sort of large ship was coming toward them, she couldn't recognize the design. "Start recording." she stated distractedly to Quinn, who nodded numbly as he tapped at his station.

"Open a hail to Deep space two." she barked. Her com officer tapping quickly at her station.

"Captain, you were cut off before, is everything alright?" Commander Lore stated calmly.

"No we lost power momentarily and we have an unknown ship heading straight for us." she stated slightly distracted. "I sent out a distress call before it appeared, it's not showing any aggressive..." She was cut off from saying anything else as she saw each of her crew members being engulfed in a light one by one. "What the hell..." was the last thing she got out before she was engulfed in the light.

"Captain Hill!?"

**Deep Space Two**

Commander Lore sat back in his chair in shock. She was engulfed in some strange light like nothing he'd seen before. What the hell was going on.

"Get me the data as soon as possible. As soon as we figure out what happened the sooner we can get them back...where ever that may be." He ordered, trailing at the end.

"Contact Starfleet and any starship in the area that may have picked up the distress call and inform them of what's happened." He added as he grabbed his padd with the new data and retreated to his office.

He came back out a second later. "Keep me updated on any changes." he replied calmly tapping the door frame in thought before retreating from the door.

He was locked in his office for over an hour, reading through Captains Hills logs from the past three days, looking for anything that might be of use.

"Commander Lore, Admiral Archer is hailing on behalf of Starfleet command." his communications officers voice floated through the room.

"Patch him through to me here." He stated not looking up from his data padd, trying to decipher the information.

"Commander Lore." Admiral Archers firm voice commanded. Lore's head shot up.

"Sorry sir, I'm just trying to make heads of what's going on. Honestly there's not much to go on." Lore stated scratching the back of his head in thought."They're jamming any communication from the Nova and only the Nova believe me we've tried. They haven't sent out any communications of their own and they haven't moved. We scanned the Nova and it shows no life signs but we can't get a read on the alien ship. They're far more advanced than anything we've seen." he continued glancing at the data padd in thought.

"From what I gathered from Captain Hill it shut down the power and turned it on like flipping a switch." his eyes going wide, perplexed by his thoughts. "I honestly don't know what's stopping it from coming straight for us, it has to know we're here. I mean we know it's there it has to know we're here." his voice trailing at the end.

Lore watched as Admiral Archer mulled over the information. Lore watched the admiral look over something on the data padd in front of him. After a few minutes of silence the Admiral finally responded.

"We'll be sending the USS Andromeda and the USS Constitution to help with the situation. That's all we can spare at the moment. Until we know more about the situation, that's all we'll be sending. We can't lose ships and we can't lose the station." He replied firmly.

"The Constitution will stay back and protect the Station, while the Andromeda will lead the research and if need be recovery of the Nova crew." He added as someone handed something off-screen.

"They should be there within the hour." Admiral Archer nodded.

"Yes sir." Lore responded as the Admiral ended the call. Lore sat back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair, before picking up the data padd and focused on brain storming, preparing for the arrival of the starships.

**USS Enterprise**

"Commander Spock we are receiving a distress call from the USS Nova." Uhura stated turning in her chair, but paused when another hail came in. "It seems the crew has been abducted by an alien vessel of unknown origin." She continued as she listened to the transmission.

"Chekov, how long would it take to reach the Nova from our current position?" There was a few minutes of silence while Checkov calculated before they received another hail. "It seems Starfleet has responded and is sending the USS Constitution and the USS Andromeda. They ask the ships that are in that sector to be on standby but require no further assistance." Uhura stated and turned to Spock.

"Commander, we're a week out from the Nova at maximum warp." Chekov broke the silence, his accented voice trailing at the end. It was pointless information at that moment, seeing as Enterprise wasn't even in the same quadrant let alone the same sector. The Nova was near the federation border in Beta quadrant and Enterprise was handling a minor mission in the Alpha quadrant.

"Very well. Maintain orbit." Spock responded. "Chekov update on the situation on the planet." he added coming to stand next to the young navigator. "The mission is on schedule." He responded as he looked at his panel. "Should we tell the captain about the Nova?" Chekov added apprehensively.

"It seems Starfleet has it handled there's no need to interrupt the mission, we will tell him when he's been debriefed." Spock stated calmly, sitting back in the captain's chair and picking up the data padd of the ship reports for the day. Sulu and Chekov shot each other a look but said nothing else, going back to normal duties.

A few hours later Kirk was back aboard the ship and had just finished his debriefing.

"Anything interesting happen while I was away?" He asked Spock with a smirk, knowing full well the Vulcan wouldn't get the social cue. "The ship is running at optimal efficiency, captain." Spock stated bluntly. "However we did receive a distress call from the USS Nova." Kirks smile slid right off, his face going pale. He waited for his first officer to continue.

"Starfleet has ordered the USS Andromeda and the USS Constitution to assist. Starships within that sector are to remain on standby while all others outside the sector go about their normal routines." He finished waiting for Kirk to respond. "Why didn't you call me up immediately?" after the shock wore off Kirk could feel the irritation sliding over his skin.

"We are nowhere near the sector and it would have been pointless to do so." "We are a week away at maximum warp. There is no need to rush when Starfleet has not ordered us to." Spock added the subtle change in demeanor was not lost on Kirk. The half Vulcan was getting just as irritated. Kirk decided to let this one go and focus on the matter at hand. Spock returned to his station, as the captain's attention shifted.

"Sulu, Chekov set a course for Deep Space two, maximum warp," Kirk ordered moving to his captain's chair. He just hoped he could make it in time to be of some use.

**Deep Space Two**

Lore was starting to get a major headache. The admiral failed to mention the two captains were notoriously hard to deal with and neither one wanted to consent to the other's ideas. They had gone over battle plans, rescue missions, and possible scenarios for over an hour now and they were still nowhere near finding an answer.

He got up and made his way over to the replicator and returned to his seat with his drink. He sat back in his chair and listened to the two captains argue. They were getting nowhere fast.

"Okay, okay. Enough." Lore finally cut in. The two captains stopped their bickering.

"Perhaps it would be beneficial to take a small recess and continue this in, oh 15 minutes." Lore stated now that he had their attention. They grumbled their responses but did as he asked and left the room. Lore let out a sigh of relief, those two really know how to work the other up. He sat back in his chair and massaged his temples, he just hoped these captains could put aside their pride for the sake of the missing crew.

The captains returned looking calmer than they had earlier, things were looking hopeful.

"We should start from the beginning." and as soon as it was out of his mouth. The two captains exploded into a flurry of arguments. There was a soft thunk as Lore dropped his head forward on the table in defeat, going unnoticed as the two captains continued to argue.

This was going to be a long day, he hoped the Nova crew could hang on just a little bit longer.

_**To Be Continued...** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those of you who have read my other Enterprise story will recognize the name Lore, it's not the same character I just wanted to use a familiar name.
> 
> The Andromeda and Constitution starships are part of the star trek universe.
> 
> If you want to know more about the quadrants, I would look it up. I'm not sticking directly to them, more of a guideline but it's still pretty interesting. Also the time it would take to travel across quadrants and sectors is not my strong suit, so if it's really wrong and bothering you let me know. Also, there would be a lag between when the distress call was sent and when they actually get it, just in case you were wondering. Whether they would get it within an hour of it being sent, probably not but this is sci-fi and star trek so anything can happen within reason.


	8. Episode 8: Confused as Hell Part 2

**Meanwhile...**

The lights vanished and Ramona looked around. The sun was shining high in the sky, giving the meadow a picturesque quality. Ramona might have enjoyed this moment if she wasn't so confused.

She saw a few of her bridge crew scattered around the open field. They were looking around in confusion and she noticed they were wearing strange outfits. When she noticed a few staring at her strangely she finally looked down to see what she was wearing. It was a dress of strange but vaguely familiar design. She touched it tentatively feeling the fabric under her fingers. The dress flared at the waist, a small belt sat high on her waist, and buttons trailing up the middle leading to a modest cleavage with thick tank top straps.

She looked at the others and saw most of the women dressed in a similar fashion, with a few exceptions. Some were wearing tight pants and oversized jackets.

The men were a different story, most of them were wearing some form of suits with strange hats, they looked like gangsters and she wasn't sure why she thought that. Some were in Jeans and oversized jackets. Ramona stared at them in thought, these outfits looked strangely familiar and she couldn't put her finger on it.

Suddenly it clicked they looked like they stepped straight out of the 1950s, they all did. Bringing her hand up to her hair she noticed it done up in some strange do.

"Is everyone alright?" She asked around as they started to move closer to each other. Various answers of yes ran through the small group. She noticed that Quinn wasn't part of the group. He had been on the bridge, hadn't he? That's when she noticed the group was too random to be solely the bridge crew.

Great, where was the rest of her crew?

"Captain what's going on?" Mathews asked breaking from the group slightly to move closer.

"I don't know, the last thing that happened was that giant ship and then a bright light. Then we ended up here." She mumbled.

"Does anyone have anything on them?" She asked feeling around her hips and anywhere that might be able to conceal something. A chorus of no's reached her ears, she grumbled in frustration.

"The best thing we can do in this situation is to pick a direction and try to find some shelter and food, and seeing as we don't have any way of communicating with each other, splitting up isn't really an option." she started.

"Seeing as we don't know where we are, what we'll find, I would advise everyone to take extreme caution." She stated moving toward a moderate-sized hill. She needed to find a safe place for them to find shelter and scavenge for food. Their lives rested heavily on her shoulders.

Halfway up the hill Ramona could feel the heat and the strain, she glanced back to see most of her crew in similar conditions. Some had even shed their jackets along the way. As she climbed she let her thoughts wander on what had happened to them.

The alien ship must have done something, but what. They couldn't be inside the ship could they, holodecks were a relatively new thing and this place seemed far too realistic to be one. The ones in Starfleet were landscapes but they hadn't perfected the heat or scent that went along with nature, they used them for a scenic escape. That was the most plausible explanation, and she didn't think time travel was really an option. It was too unlikely.

When they got to the peak of the hill, she let a small laugh of relief. Off in the distance was a town, a small town, but a town none the less.

"Oh thank god." She heard Mathews mumble under his breath and he bent slightly to catch his breath. This alone perplexed Ramona, all of her crew were in good physical shape, and to have a hill best them was adding more questions to her already long list.

They made their way into the streets of the town just as the sun started to set. They wandered the streets taking in the strange layout and technology; so primitive.

They were passing by a shop when a woman paled and ran out of the shop after them. "Are you all alright?" Her voice concerned. And that's when Ramona noticed the shape they were in and the stares that hadn't realized they were receiving.

They were sweaty and covered in dirt. "Oh yes we're fine, we just took an impromptu picnic trip, and wouldn't you know it the car died on us." Ramona laughed politely. They could tell the woman didn't believe them but didn't say anything else as she ushered them into her shop.

"I was just about to close up when I saw you." The older woman stated as she moved around the counter.

Clothing and other various things lined the walls and shelves. The only thought going through Ramona's head was...how convenient.

"We don't have any money on us, ma'am," Mathew stated as she showed him some undershirts.

"Oh well in that case let me get some old things from the back. Can't have you walking around town looking like that, now can we." the woman stated with a vacant smile and moved to the back. Ramona's eyebrows shot up, this woman was strange and unnaturally helpful. Most people even for this time period weren't this nice.

Another thought hit her, maybe these are the aliens and they live on their ship like this because they have no home to return to. They could be disguising their real features to put the crew more at ease. Ramona wasn't sure how she felt about that.

They could be here a while so Ramona decided to play along. "You wouldn't happen to have seen any other newcomers arrive in town. I'm afraid we were having a group picnic and some of the others were supposed to come before us." She almost missed the small smirk on the woman's face, but it was gone a second later when she handed Mathews and the others a change of clothes.

"I'm afraid not. Maybe they got lost on their way back." She replied with a concerned smile.

"Is there anywhere we can stay for the night, as my companion said before we don't have any money on us." Ramona continued.

"I'm afraid I don't have enough room for everyone, but there's an abandoned barn just outside of town. I feel awful saying this but that might work best." She stated as she came to Ramona handing her a similar dress to the one she was already wearing.

"Thank you." Ramona took the dress from the woman's hands and moved to the fitting room and waited for the others to change.

"Thank you again for all your help." She nodded to the crew and they made their way back onto the street heading toward the barn. As they moved through the street, they could see people looking through their windows at the passing group.

"Captain..." Mathews whispered from behind her.

"I know, I see them." She mumbled under her breath keeping the townspeople in the corner of her eye.

They made it to the barn and Ramona was thankful that it wasn't as run down as she imagined. She gave each person a to do list before they bed down. They were fine for food for the night, but tomorrow they needed to try to find the rest of the crew if they were even here. Finding their way out of this was ever-present in the back of her mind.

They set up a perimeter and assigned watch duty. The weather was in their favor it was a warm summer night, where ever this was. Ramona sat to the side with Mathews, heads together trying come up with answers.

"So, what do you think is going on?" He whispered calmly.

"I have some theories but nothing concrete." She started undoing her hair.

"We could be in a holodeck, far beyond ours," she stated absently as she brushed her fingers through her hair.

"Or this could be the inside of their ship and they're disguising their appearance to put us more at ease."

"What I don't understand is what they want with us." she finished distracted by the others getting comfortable.

"Maybe they have no home to go back to, and they think we can help them in some way," Mathews added before leaving Ramona to get comfortable. As she laid back and stared at the old wooden ceiling she let her mind wandering, running random scenarios that may or may not be useful. The last thought before she was lost to the world; whatever this is, isn't real.

_Dream_

_Darkness encased her, she felt weightless and cold._

_As she became more aware her head and eyes felt heavy like a weight was keeping her blocked from her surroundings._

_Her eyes started to flicker open, in a squint. Her vision was hazy and she couldn't make out what was in front of her._

_She felt like she was frozen in ice. Her body felt numb._

_As her vision swam she tried to make out something, anything._

_The first thing she made out was ice like a spider web across the glass. She tried to see beyond but it was like her own mind wouldn't allow it._

_As she battled her mind, she finally got a look, like a camera coming into focus. Through the ice stood a tube of glass covered in ice, she imaged it was similar to what she seemed to be in._

_As she tried to get a better look at who could possibly be in the tube, her vision swam again..._

"Are you alright? It took us a few minutes to wake you up." Mathews stated with a slight chuckle. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms over her head.

"Nah it was just a really strange dream." She mumbled stifling a yawn, it felt as if she hadn't gotten any sleep.

They went through a mental inventory and physical inventory before getting started on a plan for the day.

Heading back into town, the main goal was to find a communication device. Half the group focused on that and the other half was to go and get whatever currency they could. She sent out four of her best Scouters to get the lay of the land.

Ramona had been doing odd jobs for the women that had given them the clothes. She gave the lie that she wanted to pay the woman back for the clothes. In reality, she was trying to get access to the phone that was behind the counter.

By the end of the day, Ramona was tired, dirty, and frustrated. The woman had been driving her up a wall, the only thing she asked for was the phone, but the woman gave her money instead and denied her access to the phone.

She graciously took the money and headed back to the barn. The others trickled in all in a similar fashion, dirty, tired, and slightly frustrated. One of her Scouters had found a stream within walking distance of the barn. Tomorrow if they had no progress, they had at least enough money to spend a night in the hotel in town.

Ramona waited for the rest of her crew to bathe before taking her turn. She was splashing water over her arms and running her fingers through her hair when a twig snapped behind her. A second later something slammed into her from behind. Her body snapped forward plunging headfirst into the stream. Her head knocked into a rock and her body went still. No longer conscious, her lungs filled with water. Her body floated motionless in the creek, with blood trailing from a wound on her head.

** Alien Ship **

Her eyes shot open and tried to take in a breath but ice in the tube made her choke. Looking around she tried to decipher where she was. She could feel her heart pounding wildly in her chest, her mind going a mile a minute trying to comprehend what just happened.

The tube started to thaw and the door popped open with a small hiss. She was finally able to take in air and knew if she didn't get herself under control she would hyperventilate.

She tried to push the door and step out but her legs gave way and she tumbled out. She tried to push herself but her arms couldn't support her. She rolled over to get a better look at her surrounding.

Rows and rows of tubes lined the hallway. She could see a dial on the front of the tube, written in an alien language. It was unrecognizable and that frustrated Ramona on a small level. The inner linguistic in her was calling out to figure it out and learn it.

She groaned as she tried to push herself up again. Hoisting herself up to a sitting position, she propped against the tube and listened to the alien voices overhead, they must be announcing her 'escape'. Well she assumed that at least.

She looked at the tubes and tried to see if she could recognize any of the faces. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't see a thing from her spot on the ground.

As if being struck in the head, a voice filled her mind. It was jumbled and she didn't understand but slowly as if tuning a radio the voice started to make sense.

Her hands flew to her ears as if to block the extra sound from her mind. Her eyes scrunched closed and she bent forward as the voice tried to communicate with her.

As the volume of the voices lowered, she slowly let go of her head and looked back up toward the tubes.

"Do not be frightened, you will regain feeling in your legs in a few of your earth minutes." The voice soothed. She barely heard that when she realized she could read and understand the language on the tube. They must be adjusting her to understand them...how bizarre. Not sure how long they would be doing this she committed the words to memory to compare to the symbols and see if she could establish a baseline. She quickly banished those thoughts and focused on memorizing, hoping the aliens weren't able to delve too deeply into her mind.

As she gazed at the tube all but ignoring the strange voices, she started to try to figure out what the words meant. The dial she had seen earlier read: CYCLE 1. She had no idea what that meant but it would useful for her to be able to distinguish letters and numbers in their language.

"You are free to explore the level you are on, but be careful not to try to wake your comrades or you will damage their lives." She nodded absently not really sure if they were watching her or not. As the presence left her mind the understanding of their language slipped as well. She quickly got to work on pulling herself up the tube she had been in and noticed the tube across from her was Brooks. She took a shaky step forward and touched the dial as well as putting her hand on the glass of the tube.

She spent her time studying the symbols, she looked back to her tube to see that it also had the same; cycle 1. Yet there was a second dial under her first and noticed Brooks did as well, but the symbols didn't match.

If she was getting any of this it looked as if the one on Brooks said 'Tundra'. While hers was something like 'Heat'. It made her wonder, just what was happening here. As she moved down the line she saw her crew, as she passed her crew she noticed other aliens, some she recognized, some she didn't. As she moved down the line she noticed the farther she moved down the line the numbers started to increase. What did that mean, how long have these aliens been here? Now and then she would come across empty tubes, sporadic, no real pattern to it.

As she reached the end she saw a small panel presumably to control this level. As well as a map, but she wasn't sure where they were but she took her time to commit it to memory.

She studied the panel and tapped a few of the buttons to see if she could figure out a way to get her crew off without having to deal with the cryogenic problem. The feeling of being hit in the head returned and the voices were back.

"We told you not to stray from the level." She could feel the undercurrent of questions they didn't want to ask. The feeling of curiosity and frustration smacked into her skull. She put her hand on the console for support. Fortunately for her, this gave her a chance to look at the map and controls under the influence. As if realizing what was happening they quickly pulled from her mind.

She tapped a few more buttons to see if she could get control of engineering. As she was doing that she found communications from DS2. She kept herself from contacting the station, to avoid drawing attention to what she was doing, she continued to learn what she could about the ship and these mysterious aliens. She also checked in on the Nova, making sure they had somewhere they could go back to.

She felt the ever-present probe in her mind which in turn was giving her an advantage. She was able to distinguish things far quicker than if they didn't constantly check up on what she was trying to do. She tracked the life signs of her crew and started the 'game over' procedure in the computer system. She hoped that it wasn't a kill switch. The computer stated the procedure takes time and she wanted to make sure it was at the end of the cycle when she put her plan in place.

She set a timer-based off the computer and wandered back to where her crew was in the long hallway of captured aliens. She found her tube and sat at the base and waited. She had been sitting in silence for a few minutes until she heard a soft clicking noise and looked up. Brooks dial had turned to cycle 2, but the second dial didn't change. She stood up and placed her hands on the tube.

"Soon. Please hold on just a little longer." She whispered, hating that she had to sit back and wait. The time ticked by slowly and Ramona wondered how long they had been in this ship and how much longer she had to wait. She felt cold and alone.

She made her way back to the panel. She was glad to see the clock was almost up. Locking on the tubes she transported them to the Nova. She shut the power down to certain levels of the ship and started the self destruct sequence, encoding it with a back up so that if they try to fix the power on the levels it will start the self destruct over again. No doubt they would stop the self destruct first. She hoped they would be too confused to come after them immediately.

She waited until she heard the second self destruct kick in before beaming herself to the Nova. She checked her crew's life signs before, setting in the coordinates for DS2 at maximum warp.

The alien ship exploded and the shock wave chased after the Nova. As the wave smacked into the ship it was knocked out of warp and the power went out, but unlike before the backup kicked in. Heading to the com panel she sent a distress call to DS2 with a very, very brief explanation of what just transpired.

Only then did she collapse in her captain's chair and let out a breath she felt she had been holding since the ship first appeared.

A Few Hours Later

"Captain Hill, it looks like your crew will be just fine, we'll need to take some more tests in a few days of course, but they're all fine."

"Thank you, Commander," She whispered. He squeezed her shoulder before leaving her to her thoughts.

Collecting her thoughts Ramona made her way to sickbay to check in with her crew.

"I'm glad to see you all are doing alright," she stated as she came across Mathews. "Yeah, of course." He replied with a smile.

"It was so surreal, it all feels like some vague dream. It's hard to remember what happened." He stated touching his head softly. She was glad to see that they hadn't suffered such a rude awakening as she had, but there was another emotion growing slowly in her chest.

"Well, you'll be free to leave in the morning. I get to head back to the ship." She laughed lightly at Mathew's childish pout. With that, she left the sickbay and made her way back to the Nova.

She smiled tiredly at the crew that was taking care of the Nova while her crew waited it out in sickbay. She ran her hand along the wall of the ship as she made her way to her quarters. The feeling that had come up when she was talking to Mathews had popped back up and was slowly growing.

The door to her quarters whooshed closed behind her, she stood at the door staring at the ground. Her back met the wall and she slide down the wall.

No longer able to contain herself she curled up in a ball and let the tears stream down her face.

An arm encased her shoulders, she let out a strangled sigh of relief as she curled into the hold.


	9. Episode 9: Rest and Relaxation

Her sobs quieted and she found solace in the arms holding her. "I was afraid I wouldn't make it in time, but it seems like you didn't need me after all," Kirk whispered in her hair as he pulled her closer. Ramona knew that if anyone saw the two of them like this, it would lead to nowhere good, but at the moment she couldn't give two shits what anyone thought.

"Were we really on the ship for over a week?" she mumbled barely above a whisper.

"Give or take, we only arrived the day before. I have to say I'm sending a full report to Starfleet about the two captains they sent to oversee this matter." his voice laced with concealed frustration. She gave a chuckle that sounded more like a hiccup. A small smile spread across his face at her cuteness.

They fell into a comfortable silence. His hand moved from her shoulder to toy with the ends of her hair, twirling it slowly between his fingers.

As her emotions evened out she reluctantly pulled away from his chest. His hand slipped from her hair and brushed along her jaw as she stood up. How she wished she could stay in his arms and find the comfort she had been missing for so long. However, this was not the time nor the place.

"I really must be getting to the debriefing. They were kind enough to give me a few hours to collect myself, maybe get a nap in." She stated offering her hand. He was tempted to pull her back down but thought better and stood.

She moved to leave but paused, turning around with a suspicious squint of her eyes. "How did you get in my quarters?" her hands on her hips. A smirk took hold of his features and a mischievous glint shone in his eyes.

"Wouldn't you like to know." he chuckled at the sour look that took hold of her features.

"I'll figure it out, Captain. Feel free to make your way back to your own ship, before my crew gets the wrong idea." she gave him a pointed look and a smile settled across his lips.

Ready Room

"It was like an intricate virtual reality, with different levels and climates. It was like a giant game..." she started only to be cut off.

"That's all well and good but let's get down to the real reason we're doing this. Why did you blow up the ship without saving the aliens trapped in the tubes, just as you were? And don't give me that you didn't have enough room on your ship. We could have used the knowledge those aliens had. The data you managed to transfer over and translate has been invaluable but some of the aliens in the archive could have opened our horizons. There are worlds we've never even heard of." He ground out.

She sat forward lacing her fingers together on the table. "I was getting there." sort of.

"As I said, it was like a game. It was designed to test us. It was to see how far we would go to survive."

"Now image aliens being put through this for decades. I saw one that had been there for close to a century. Now tell me are those really the ones you want to talk to, that is if they wanted to talk to you." she emphasized tapping on the table pointedly, before sitting back and running a hand through her hair.

She sat forward again slower and a little lower to the table.

"Listen I didn't want to kill them but seeing as I hadn't had any food for close to three days and hadn't slept for the same amount. You'll excuse me if I made a mistake." her voice getting forceful.

"You think that excuses you of your actions?" it was almost a chuckle.

"No and I intend to face whatever Starfleet has to offer," she replied a little more formally and sitting up a little straighter.

"Good to hear." Without saying a word he passed her a data padd. She reached out and took it.

"With that, I believe we're done." He stated standing up and moved toward the door. She looked at him confused.

"Until Starfleet reaches a verdict, I believe you and your crew deserve a little Rest and Relaxation." with that he swept out of the room. She watched him go and then looked down at the padd in her hand. She tapped it against her palm thoughtfully.

She opened the screen and looked at the orders addressed to her. It was a search and 'rescue' mission. She stared at the door he disappeared through in thought.

Shaking herself, she left the ready room. Her conversation with Admiral Marcus made no sense. He was behaving strangely and she felt this nagging in the back of her mind. Rolling her shoulders to get rid of the thought she headed to her quarters to get some much-needed sleep.

She tossed the data padd on the side table unceremoniously. She kissed her fingertips and placed them on the picture by her bedside and slipped into a peaceful sleep.

Risa

Here she was again on Risa, only this time she decided to take a walk instead of drowning herself in liquor. She wasn't sure if she should wear a bikini and sarong again, but she decided that she didn't care.

She walked along the designated path with no real destination. She let the warm breeze soothe her as she continued on. After an hour or so of walking, she came across a beach.

Taking a deep breath of ocean air, it invaded her senses. Letting it out slowly as if she wouldn't get another wanting to savor this as long as she could. She slowly made her way toward the water and took her sandals off. She stared out across the water, wondering how the early explorers of earth had felt looking out across the vast unknown. As those thoughts slowly drifted, her mind started to clear as she took in the beauty of the ocean before her. She let the sound of the ocean lull her, like a soft lullaby. She felt the peace and wonder of the ocean so vast and full of life, yet dangerous and beautiful. The ocean seemed to breathe as the waves came in and went out. She knew she would lose this peace as soon as she turned away. The feeling of the dark unknown was baring down and resting on her shoulders. She knew as soon as she turned around the trance would be broken, she never wanted to turn around. She wanted the warm peace this moment had to offer.

She took another deep breath and closed her eyes soaking in the warmth. She could feel the sand between her toes. The moment was broken when the tide reached her feet. The cold water breaking her from her trance. She gave a squeak and jumped back. She whirled around when she heard a small laugh come from the pathway behind her.

She huffed slightly at her second in command.

"Sorry Captain, but Starfleet has been hailing, and someone forgot their communicator," he emphasized, with a knowing look. She turned from the beach and headed back to the path slipping her sandals on as she did.

She made it back to her room at the resort and took the hail.

"Sorry for the late reply Admiral I was down at the beach and lost track of time." Admiral Archer didn't look amused.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Sir?" he was angrier than she had anticipated.

"You were scheduled for a hearing at Starfleet yesterday. When we found out you were on Risa you can understand we're a little confused," he replied watching her carefully. She could tell by his body language that he wanted to tell her more but was keeping himself in check.

"Admiral Marcus didn't mention any of this to me when he debriefed me. He told me to wait to hear back from Starfleet and that we were scheduled for R and R. We haven't received any hails from Starfleet over the last few days besides yours, sir." She answered trying to do damage control and trying to recall exactly what the admiral had told her. She saw his face flush red before becoming pale.

"Admiral is everything alright?" concern lacing her voice as she watched the admiral pick up a data padd and start tapping.

"Take the day but then call your crew back to Earth for a full debriefing," he stated briskly. There was a slight pause before he continued. "And Ramona...you should know policy better on something like this. No matter who debriefs you, you still need to return to Earth after something like this," he stated pointedly.

"Yes Sir." the comm ended and she dropped her head in her hands before running both hands through her hair. He always knew how to make her feel like a scolded child.

How she wished she could just go back to the moment on the beach and make it last forever.

She sent a message out to her crew to wrap up their festivities and the impending trip back to Earth. She shuttled back to the Nova and made minor preparations for the voyage home. Once safely in her quarters, she found the data padd the admiral had given her. Thinking maybe this mission might help her case with Admiral Archer she tried to forward the message, but what she found was slightly disturbing. There was encryption preventing her from copying or sending the file. She ran a hand through her hair in frustration.

Something was going on with Starfleet and she was having a hard time figuring out who she should trust. Obviously, Admiral Marcus was up to something but so far she hadn't heard anything that would mean he was guilty of anything. Admiral Archer, on the other hand, was her mentor and she liked to think a friend of sorts, but even he was keeping secrets and that didn't really sit right with her either.

She sat back on her bed and read through the mission report with a more analytical eye. One question jumped to the forefront of her mind as she was reading.

Why was he looking for a ship lost over two centuries ago? She scrolled through towards the bottom. What was the name again? It was something familiar. The SS Botany Bay.

She tried to rack her brain for the answer, but only felt a headache and decided she would look it up in the ship's computers tomorrow.

As her mind started to slip into dreamland one last thought popped into her head. The aliens had based her personal game on the decade she had been reading about right before the ship appeared. Huh weird. With that, she was out.

Starfleet

She had been in this hearing for over an hour and she felt like they were going in circles. At first, she tried to show remorse for the aliens she snuffed on the alien ship but as this dragged on she was getting more and more agitated. There were only so many ways to say she was sleep and food-deprived on the brink of death. It was starting to feel like they didn't care if she or her crew had survived as long as we got valuable information from the encounter.

She rubbed her temples in frustration. "Captain Hill, are you paying attention?" One of the admirals asked forcefully. She rubbed her eyes briefly before meeting the eyes of the admiral.

"Yes sir." she tried to keep her voice as neutral as possible. With her attention back on them, they dived back into the task at hand.

As it continued she was getting farther and farther away from rational thought. This was the first time she had ever really been reprimanded and she was not liking the feeling swirling around her mind. She had fully planned to show the council the orders that Admiral Marcus had given her, but as this droned on, she knew they wouldn't know what to do with it if she did. A stray thought floated through her mind. These men and women had been behind desks too long to know what was really going on in the vacuum of space. Crews were risking their lives for things like this and she doubted the captain of the Pegasus received the same treatment and what he had done was far worse.

Finally, they let her go with a warning that if anything like this happened again under her command she would lose it, but the damage was done. She had the dark thoughts swirling around her thoughts. Starfleet didn't have her best interest in mind anymore and she was tired of doing things they wanted her to. Of course, she didn't say anything like this as she left the building, she needed to calm down first before she figured out what she wanted to do next.

She took the transporter back to her ship and ignored everyone on her way to her quarters. She looked around her quarters for something to smash and ran her fingers through her hair gripping tightly in frustration. Bringing her hands down over her face she wiped down before looking over her hands at the nightstand where she left the data pad.

She walked to it carefully. Picking it up slowly, she unintentionally made up her mind. She turned around with the data padd in her hand, heading toward her computer. She was going to go through with this mission the admiral had given her. She was going to find out one way or the other what was going on and the best way to do that was to see what Admiral Marcus wanted with this ship. She was tired of being the good little girl that followed the rules. It was time to try something new.

Maybe she had been spending too much time with Kirk. She brushed that thought away as soon as it popped in her head.

She got on to her personal con and looked up what she could about the SS Botany Bay. As she scrolled through the information, it was raising more questions than answers and it was calling to her inner explorer to answer the call to find out.

Making up her mind she tapped the con to the bridge.

"Yes Captain?" Quinn's voice filled her small room.

"Set a course for Sector 25712." She replied quickly and firmly.

"Aye, Aye Captain." The joking tone losing its luster when he saw she wasn't in the mood for games.

"Any reason we're heading to Starbase 12?" He asked after relaying the message to the bridge crew.

"We're not headed for Starbase 12." She stated before ending the com. There was a small pang in her chest for being so rude but she brushed it aside as she read on. It was almost mythic, this ship. What she could find about it was a little unsettling. What she did know was that she was going to get answers one way or another.


	10. Episode 10: Augments

On the journey, she had settled her raging emotions, somewhat. The need to find answers and the unknown was slowly winning out to the anger that had settled in her heart.

She tried to read more about the elusive ship known as the Botany Bay. She knew it had something to do with the Eugenics Wars but the ship was mythic and she wasn't even sure it existed. Which made her question why Admiral Marcus wanted it in the first place. From what she had been reading about the Eugenics War, it was something Starfleet shouldn't get involved with. It's almost better to have these superhumans stay frozen; if they asked her.

"Captain we've picked a ship upon long-range sensors." Quinn's clipped voice floated through her ready room. She let out a sigh, he was still upset with her for snapping at him.

"On my way," she stated softly before making her way to the bridge.

She looked at the scanner. "Do you think it's the Botany Bay?" She asked as she looked over the preliminary readings.

"It's showing life signs, but minimal power and life support. It's a good chance this is the ship we've been looking for." Quinn added. She shot him a thankful smile.

"Excellent, maintain current speed. We should reach it in a day. Great work Quinn." She nodded toward her first officer, he shot her a weak smile.

The Next Day

"Captain are you sure it's such a good idea for you to go? I mean we don't even know what to expect." Quinn voiced his concern as he watched Ramona suit up to head over to the ship.

"Something is going on and this ship might offer some answers, there's no way I'm missing out on this." She replied stubbornly. That was the first glimpse of the real captain he had seen over the last week and it hit him that something serious might be happening. Before he just thought she needed more R & R.

She shifted slightly as she stood on the transporter pad, she still hated these things.

The familiar lights swirled and then faded revealing a darkened primitive ship. She walked forward carefully with her chief medical officer, Brooks, and a few red shirts.

She used her light to sweep through what she assumed was the bridge.

"This way, the life signs are coming from farther in the ship." Her med officer stated. Ramona gave one last look before moving toward the life signs.

They entered a room where cryo tubes lined the wall. She moved forward carefully, stepping up to one of the tubes. She wiped away the top of the glass to get a better look. The lights flickered on, Brooks must have restored power. She glanced in the tube and saw a mummified corpse. She sucked in a breath through her teeth. The tube must have malfunctioned.

She moved around glancing at others. Most of the tubes were intact, save for a few.

"How many are there?" Ramona shot to Brooks who was going through the computer systems.

"They left with 84, but it looks like only 72 survived the journey." Ramona's head snapped to her engineer. That was going to be hard to explain to the captain of the vessel, that is if he wasn't one of the ones to die.

"Do you know which one is the captain?" She asked as she walked among the frozen augments.

"I believe I found him, this might take me some time but I think I can wake him without harming him," Brooks stated as the medical officer stood next to him to help.

"What's his name?" She asked as she looked at one of the superhumans.

"Kahn Noonien Singh." She nodded to herself that fits with what she read about this ship.

She made her way over to one of the computer panels. It was primitive and she could remember reading about this kind of ship in her history classes. She ran her hand over it thoughtfully before moving on.

After about an hour Brooks managed to find the right sequence. She had been standing near the one to beep and hiss as the capsule started to thaw. She stood back slightly, not sure what to expect from this notorious captain.

The red shirts flanked her sides ready for what might happen.

A man with dark hair sat up slowly, she could see he was assessing the situation as he quickly analyzed his surroundings. She saw his face harden before softening. She moved toward him slowly.

"Captain." Brooks hissed at her. Which caused the augment to shift his eyes to her.

"My name is Captain Ramona Hill of the USS Nova." she started as she moved a step closer, waiting for him to react.

"How long has it been?" His voice rough. She could see he was confused about the ship's designation.

"You've been adrift for over 200 years. The war is over," she answered carefully. She could see his mind turning rapidly.

"My crew?" he asked looking at them carefully.

"All but 12 have survived the journey. Let us take you to our ship to run some tests." At the last part, she saw a dark look flash over his features before it was replaced with a small smile.

"No harm will come to your crew as long as you're in my care, I give you my word." She added knowing that had been her concern when she had woken up in the tube. She thought she saw a smirk grace his lips but it was gone as soon as it appeared.

With a little more coaxing and information, they were aboard the Nova in the sickbay. Her medical officer was running tests. Ramona watched Kahn carefully, she could see he was doing the same.

"Tell me what is to become of my crew." He stated quietly causing Ramona to move closer to hear.

"Honestly I don't know. My mission was to find you, I haven't been told what for." She stated cautiously. She watched as anger flashed behind his features before it was gone again. There was something about him that was drawing her in, like a moth to a flame. She wanted to unlock his secrets and she could see he had a lot. Not to mention the time he came from was one of turmoil and there was a lot she could learn from first-hand accounts. To be honest, she was a little excited at the prospect of what he could tell them, but she had to be cautious.

She knew she couldn't outright ask about his time, he was too cautious for that. She had been holding off on informing Starfleet of the discovery, she had told her crew it was because she wanted to learn more before sending a full report. She was holding off to try to get answers for herself.

He had been in sickbay for a few days and she thought it would be a good idea to give him some data to help him acclimate to the new world. She was spending more time than she should with him. He wasn't giving her much information but he seemed to be opening to her slightly. She finally sent word to Starfleet, much to her distaste.

After about a week of him on board, he was able to leave the bed and move around sickbay. That was how she found him, looking at the various instruments around the room. She hadn't noticed his height before but he was towering over her average frame. He wasn't wide by any measure but he was taller than most of the men she had been around.

"Your ship is most impressive." His voice low and quiet causing her to move closer subconsciously to hear him.

"Thank you. We're a science vessel so you're looking at top of the line instruments." She stated her voice laced with Pride. He shot her a small smile, moving closer to her as he did.

"What is it that your Starfleet has planned for me?" he asked his voice taking on an edge she had yet to hear from him.

"They haven't gotten back to me yet, I honestly don't know what they want from you. I was hoping to figure that out, but you're from another time what could you possibly offer us." she didn't mean it to be insulting just voicing her thoughts. Kahn raised an eyebrow in amusement.

He moved closer still. "You come in day in and day out, what is it you hope to learn from me?" His voice low as he moved toward her. He brought his hand up to rest under her chin.

"Or is there perhaps something else you want from me?" The sudden action caused her to flush, she saw a spark of victory in his eyes before it settled to mischievous. It reminded her of Kirk and she felt a sudden pang in her chest. She didn't want to admit it but she was missing the mischievous captain. She shook herself from her thoughts, Kahn was just a reminder, and she needed to take a step back before she did something stupid.

Pulling back from his touch, "I just hoped we could learn from each other." and with that, she turned her back and walked out of sickbay. She missed the dark look pass over his face.

She made her way back to the bridge just in time to receive a hail from Admiral Marcus.

"Wonderful job Captain Hill, sorry about the circumstances, but we'll taking it from here," he replied calmly waiting for her to challenge him.

"I recommend heading back to earth for a full debriefing." He stated shooting her a knowing look. She had to hold herself in check he was toying with her.

"Yes, sir," she stated, biting her words. She was going to oversee this transfer whether he liked it or not.

She turned herself around and headed back to sickbay.

When she got their Kahn was watching her carefully. "You and your crew are to be transferred to Admiral Marcus and his crew." Before she could blink he had her up against the wall by the throat. She let out a strangled cry before grabbing at his wrist. She noticed he wasn't squeezing, yet. He was merely holding her in place.

"I can't let that happen," he stated calmly.

"I need your ship." he continued. "I can't do that." She ground out, hating that she had started to trust him.

"I'm not asking you." He let the second half of the sentence hang. "We did not escape one war to be captured so easily and dragged into another," he stated, giving her a little insight on why Admiral Marcus might want super soldiers.

"You really are dense Captain." his mouth up ticked slightly when he saw recognition flash across her face before it settled back into a cold mask. She glared up at him.

"You won't succeed with this," she stated coldly. "I'm afraid you might be right, but that's never stopped me before," he stated sharply, squeezing slightly. She gripped at his wrist, trying to remember her training.

He dragged her in front of him when the sickbay door opened, revealing Admiral Marcus and his security escort. She tried to pay attention to what was being negotiated between the two but she was losing oxygen, he hadn't let go of her neck. She heard mention of his crew and his hand started to slack. After the Admiral mentioned something about destroying his ship she felt the hand disappear. She could see the security taking him toward the door.

Admiral Marcus turned toward her prone form on the floor.

"Captain, I would avoid putting this in your report...In fact, this wasn't the Botany Bay, you got your initial report wrong. You just got ambitious and wanted to prove something, but in your haste, you didn't wait for the facts."

"Sir?" she wheezed.

"Oh I'm sorry I was merely rehearsing what I was going to tell Starfleet." he let the threat hang in the air. She felt her world crumble a little. He was taking her only evidence, if she did try to report this to Starfleet it was her word against the admirals and with her hearing just a few weeks prior she wasn't in very good standing with Starfleet. He had planned all of this.

She hung her head.

"Yes Sir." She whispered. The transfer finished and she headed back to her quarters to collect herself. She had picked the admiral over her duty to Starfleet and it backed her into a corner. She needed to fly under the radar going forward or she was going to lose her command over her childish notions of good and evil. The world operated in the grey area, nothing was black and white anymore.

She started her edited version of her report to Starfleet. Telling them that it was a refugee ship and they had lied about their identity to protect themselves from persecution, she apologized for jumping to conclusions and handed the matter over to Admiral Marcus. That was the gist anyway. She talked to Brooks about the matter at hand and what he learned on the computer. He was to forget he ever saw it. He bristled at the idea but the look she sent him, told him everything he needed to know. This issue was beyond any of them.

She took a shower to clear her head. She knew whatever this was, was only the beginning of something far more dangerous than she was ready to deal with.

She took a shaky breath, letting it out slowly.

Stepping out of the shower she saw she had an incoming hail. Starfleet had responded to her 'mistake', they were disappointed in the turn of events but ultimately didn't hold it against her, she let out a sigh of relief.

She could tell from the mission they had sent her that they were sending her something easy to get her back into the swing of things, which she was thankful for. This was just the mission she needed to get on her feet and away from the politics surrounding Starfleet.

"Set a course for the Omicron Ceti System." She stated to her bridge crew with a little more compassion than she had the last few weeks.

"Yes, Ma'am." She heard Quinn retort which caused her to give a soft chuckle.

"Quit being a smart ass." she heard him laugh softly before the comm ended.

As she moved around her room, she started to unwind from the events from the day. Now that she had time to breathe, she didn't want to admit it but after the events of the day, she missed Kirk and the comfort he seemed to bring when they were around each other. She smiled softly at the thought.

She made her way to bed, tossing and turning trying to find a comfortable position. She found her mind drifting and reflecting over the day and one thought floated to the forefront.

Why do men have to be such a pain in the ass? She chuckled to herself before slowly drifting off.


	11. Episode 11: Plant Life

Having time to process her thoughts, she was starting to return to her normal self. Maybe a little more mature.

They arrived in the Omicron Ceti System and it was a simple exploratory mission. They were to go down to the planet to catalog and study the plant life. She normally found these types of missions boring but she figured this was just what she needed and volunteered herself to be one of the teams to go down.

"I thought you wanted me to remind you never to head a planetary mission," Quinn stated smirking as he prepped his equipment. Ramona shot him a look of contempt.

"You don't have to come." She added as she moved to the transporter pad. Quinn's smirk dropped at this, she's never used the transporter pad without putting up with some kind of fight or making some sort of comment. He shook it off and came back with his own quip.

"And let you have all the fun. Not a chance." he chuckled at her eye roll.

"Brooks, take care of my girl while we're gone." Brooks with the same look of shock and surprise, nodded as he watched the landing party beam down.

Two of the red shirts started cutting a path as the rest of the crew set up base camp. Ramona was unusually quiet as she set up her station. Quinn watched her from the corner of his eye for what seemed like an hour.

"What is it Adrian?" she asked not looking up from her scanner. He hesitated to ask what had been on his mind for weeks but decided against it.

"You think we'll need an Enterprise extraction from this paradise?" he asked waving his arm at the surrounding foliage as emphasis. A soft smile tugged at her lips as she looked up at the trees and brightly colored flowers.

"It would be a shame, but this planet is devoid of life forms, the only thing here is plants. We shouldn't have any problems here," she added softly, a faraway look overtaking her features.

"Ramona..." he started moving closer but stopped when she stood.

"You've been the best first officer a captain could ask for." She stated blankly looking him straight in the eye as she did. Taken aback by her blunt praise he nodded dumbly.

"Thank you, captain," he mumbled out. As if snapping out of an invisible hold, her demeanor changed.

"Alright, who's ready to do some exploring?" she stated to the camp clapping hers together a wide smile stretching across her face. The various crew members around the camp started gathering gear and securing their stations.

Ramona took a deep calming breath as they walked along the trail, it wasn't like the forests at home that's for sure, but there was just something about it that calmed her nerves.

"Where is it we're going?" Quinn asked as he came upon her right.

"There were a few promising readings from just over that ridge." She pointed in the, not too far distance.

"We've been walking for hours, the crew might need to rest, we're about halfway. It couldn't hurt." Quinn responded looking back toward the slightly sweaty scientist trailing behind them. She glanced over her shoulder and nodded shortly before pointing at a spot up ahead.

"We can rest at the clearing." She heard a collective sigh from the group. She smiled softly to herself. As they trudged a few more minutes they made it to the clearing.

They collectively stripped themselves of their packs. A few taking a moment to splash water over their faces. One of the scientists plopped down on the ground and leaned up against a rock, lifting his hat and wiping the dirt and sweat from his forehead. Others drank deeply from their containers. Ramona sat on a rock and looked around at her crew, she smiled softly as they broke out in various stories from the academy, to complaining about the trek so far. She shook her head softly at some of the stories.

Ramona sat in silence and listened, it had been a while since she just sat and enjoyed being around her crew.

"What about you Captain? Got any special man in your life?" One of the women off to the side asked. Her head shot up in surprise, she didn't expect them to talk to her much through the mission. She had been standoffish since the Admiral Marcus incident. And what a question to ask.

"Aw, no...no I don't," she replied with a small chuckle. She heard Quinn cough to stop from laughing, she shot him a look.

"That's a shame." and with that, they went back to ignoring her. She didn't mind, her thoughts had slipped to a certain mischievous captain. She didn't want to admit it but she missed him. She took a small drink from her container.

Glancing up again she could see the group was getting their second wind. "Alright, let's get a move on if we want to get the samples and make it back to camp before night fall." standing up she grabbed her pack and started at a slower pace. She could hear the others groaning as she moved forward. The others were taking a few minutes to get moving again and she was the only one on the path for the time being, but she didn't mind she liked having the few minutes to herself.

She stared up at the trees watching the sunlight shine through the leaves, a soft smile played across her features as she closed her eyes to soak in the warmth. She took a deep breath and let out slowly. She heard a rustling like the trees were groaning, she opened her eyes as a vine swung down and stuck a needle-like thorn into her neck. She swiped at it but it had already curled back up into the tree it had come from.

Her hand went up to her neck, she didn't feel anything. She brought her hand back clear liquid coated her fingertips. Quinn and the others had caught up, she turned ready to issue a warning when her throat started to burn. She dropped to her knees one hand going to the ground to support her as the other found its way to her throat.

"Captain, what happened?" Quinn and one of the scientists dropped to her side. She looked up at the trees trying to give some sort of hint as to what had done this but there was no way they would know what she was trying to say. Suddenly the burning turned to swelling, it felt like her throat was closing and it damn well could be, she had no idea what that plant had done to her.

"Did you eat something?" one of the scientists asked looking where she was looking.

"I don't see any fruit or berries." another responded looking up as well.

She fell forward and rolled to her back unable to hold herself up. Her breathing coming in short gasps. Her vision was swimming.

"Nova, come in." Quinn's panicked voice cried out through her fog. She was starting to see spots. The voices around her becoming nothing more than white noise.

Her hands clawed at her throat, no longer able to get any air to her lungs.

"Somebody do something." Quinn cried out looking at the men and women on the path with him.

"We're not that kind of doctor, what do you want us to do?" one of the scientists responded just as flustered. They all watched as the captain thrashed about in the dirt as she struggled to breathe.

The lights of the transporter swirled around Ramona and she was in sickbay. The chief medical officer and her band of nurses swarmed the med bay bed. They took blood samples and ran various other scans in a matter of seconds.

"Ramona can you tell me what happened. Anything that could be of any use." Ramona looked up with wild eyes unable to form the words. A nurse injected something into her leg and the swelling in her throat was gone almost instantly.

"It...it...neck...injected...trees." were the only things she could stumble out before she lost the fight for consciousness.

Quinn and the others had come back a short time later.

"Is she okay? She say anything?" Quinn asked as he moved to the side of her bed. Brooks stood from his seat having only just arrived himself.

"The doc said she mentioned something about being injected in the neck by something from the trees, but she passed out before they could get anything else," he replied staring down and her prone form. "Not that she was really able to say much, to begin with."

"Why hasn't she woken up yet?" He asked looking around the med bay.

"Whatever was injected into her is doing a number on her body. They can't slow it down enough to figure out what it is, or where it's going next." Brooks ground out in frustration.

"They talked about putting her in stasis until they can figure out a cure," he whispered quietly.

"I don't get it, there wasn't any life forms on the planet, no insects, no animals of any kind," Quinn stated running a hand through his hair as he occupied the seat Brooks had just been in.

"Maybe it was a plant. That might be a reason why there aren't any other life forms on the plant." Brooks replied quietly, watching the prone captain.

"I had the scientist pull a sample of all the plants in the area. They're running tests as we speak." just as the words left Quinn's mouth, the captain's eyes and mouth shot open in a silent scream. Quinn and Brooks both jumped to attention assessing the situation.

"What's happening?" Quinn asked as the chief medical officer came flying by.

"It's attacking her nervous system." She replied checking everything she needed to check.

"We've given her everything we can, any more and we could kill her. We don't what it is that's wreaking havoc on her body. When we think we've pinpointed it, it mutates and switches course." she continued, finally taking her eyes off Ramona.

"We have to put her in stasis or we have to face the possibility of her not making it through the next hour," she stated looking to Quinn for his orders.

"Can't you give her something?" Quinn asked defeated, already knowing they had tried everything short of killing her. The doc shot him a sympathetic look.

"This is beyond what the ship is capable of and that's saying something." The doc replied frustration lacing her voice.

"We need to put her in stasis and haul ass to the nearest medical space station. You also might want to call in some experts, this is far beyond one person to handle." She added watching Quinn carefully.

He paused what seemed like hours as Ramona twitched and jerked on the bed, but it was only a matter of seconds before he responded.

"Put her in a stasis pod, and set a course for deep space two. Send a hail to Starfleet with our situation, ask for medical reinforcements...and contact the Enterprise but don't tell them anything other than we need medical assistance." as soon as the orders left his lips the two reacted immediately. He stepped back to let them work, he knew Ramona wasn't fond of pods, not after the aliens and Kahn. But he was looking forward to that reprimand. He watches as they prepped the pod. A feeling of dread finding a home in his gut.

"Sir, we're receiving a hail from the Enterprise." Damn, that was fast, thank god for small miracles.

"I'll take it down here." He replied.

"Commander Quinn, what's the situation?" Kirk's voiced floated through the room, his voice seemed calm but Quinn could hear the undercurrent of concern.

"I hope I'm not pulling you from something important captain but we have a medical emergency and we require your chief medical officer and possibly your chief science officer." He replied as calmly as he could.

"Again Quinn, what's the situation? Where is Ramona?" his answer coming in shorter than before, dropping formalities as he did.

"She was injected with an unknown on the planet. She's being put in a stasis pod as we speak." He flung out hoping it made sense. There was a long pause before he answered.

"How long ago?" Kirk ground out, trying to stay calm.

"Within the last hour, it's moving faster than anything we've ever seen. My scientists are analyzing the samples from the area as we speak. We've set a course for deep space two" Quinn responded in rapid-fire.

"We'll be there within 24 earth hours." He replied before the line went dead. Quinn found the nearest chair and fell into it resting his elbows on his knees. He brought a hand up to his hair, running it through as he processed everything that happened in the last few hours.

Brooks reentered sickbay sometime later and found Quinn in the chair.

"I should have tried harder to make her stay, I should have..." Brooks heard Quinn mumbling to himself as he approached.

"This wasn't your fault, if it wasn't her, it would have been someone else and you know it. You can't give up, she wouldn't, she'd fight to the end." Brooks interrupted. Another long pause.

"She's a fighter." He stated resting a hand on Quinn's shoulder giving a squeeze before making his way out of sickbay.

Snapping out of it he stood up and headed to debrief before relieving Brooks.

-0-

They made it to deep space two and caught them up on the situation. A few hours after the arrival, Starfleet responded. Quinn took it in his quarters aboard the Nova.

"Commander Quinn." Admiral Archer stated solemnly. "I wish we were speaking on better terms."

"Same here admiral," Quinn responded. Quinn spent the next few hours filling the admiral in on what had happened.

"I see." there was a long pause.

"This is going to sound callous but we have a mission for the Nova, I wish this had come at a better time. Without Ramona, it makes the mission a little more challenging but I have faith in your crew and its abilities. And if Ramona gets better before then all the better." Quinn could feel the fear and anger swell in his chest but pushed it down for later.

"Sir?" he hoped this was some sick joke, he didn't want to leave his captain in this condition.

"I hate to say this commander but your crew can't do more for Ramona than you already have, Deep space two is more than equipped to handle it from here on out," he replied slowly as not to upset the young commander.

"We will give you a week before your to report for the mission but I suggest you read the mission report as you wait for her recovery. That way when she wakes up you'll be able to fill her in, she spoke very highly of you and your skills." his voice sounded strained, portraying his weak optimism.

"Your in command of the Nova, for now, we know you'll run it well."

"Oh and Quinn." he paused.

"Yes, sir." Quinn responded tightly.

"Next time, wait for orders before calling the Enterprise." and with that the Admiral was gone. Quinn looked down at the pad that was beeping with new orders. He sat forward and looked down at the screen, his hand hovered over the device. It hung in mid-air for a few seconds before he shoved the device and a few other trinkets from the desk. He stood up breathing deeply. Getting himself back under control he sat back down his elbows resting on the desk and his head going between in thought.

"Sir the Enterprise has arrived." his head came back up.

"Tell them I'll meet them in med room two."

"Yes sir."

He moved around the desk and picked up the data pad, leaving the other things were they were.

-0-

Quinn wasn't sure what he was going to face with Kirk. He knew Ramona's feelings had long surpassed mutual flirting, he wasn't stupid he saw the way they looked at each other.

Quinn stood outside the med bay, running a hand through his hair, god he hoped the captain didn't kill him.

Whatever he was expecting when he entered the bay, it wasn't this.

The captain stood over her stasis pod, an unexplainable look taking hold of his features. Kirk brought up his hand and touched the top of the pod. Quinn was afraid to ruin the moment, but he needed to get this underway.

He coughed softly to get the captain's attention. McCoy and Spock he didn't notice until now were also in the room, talking to various science and medical personnel.

All three turned to look at him.

"I just got done talking to Admiral Archer." Quinn started a little unnerved at the intense look the captain was giving him.

"What did he say?" Kirk asked not moving from the pod.

"He's given the Nova a mission." He started again, the captain interrupted.

"What kind of mission?" He asked finally moving to stand in front of Quinn.

"See for yourself," Quinn stated handing over the data pad. Kirk took it roughly and scanned through the report his brows knitting together and his jaw clenching as he did.

"They're sending you on fool's errand. They're making you leave her." Kirk scoffed.

"He told me there wasn't anything Nova could do for her anymore. I think he meant this mission as a way to keep our minds off of the inevitable." Quinn murmured losing himself in thought, snapped out of it when Kirk grabbed the front of his uniform.

"You're giving up that easy." Kirks nostrils flaring as he wrestled with control.

"Not all of us are like you, we can't break the rules and turn on the charm knowing we'll get away with it. I'm not James Fucking Kirk, alright?" Quinn pushed the captain back and straightened up.

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to watch. He stepped in the captain's space but dropped his shoulders slightly.

"You think I want to leave her like this. Tell me what I should do and I'll do it." his voice losing power. Kirk put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about this, do the mission. Don't worry about Starfleet. We'll do everything we can to find a cure. I've got the right men for the job." Kirk gave him a smirk, looking over to McCoy and Spock as they resumed their research. Quinn would have asked what about Starfleet but he knew that was a pointless question so he stayed quiet.

Quinn took a deep breath and nodded.

"I feel a lot better knowing you're looking out for her captain. I leave her in your hands." the unspoken trust he had with this man was new but not unwelcome. He felt the captain give his shoulder a squeeze before stepping back and joining McCoy and Spock.

Quinn left med bay and felt the dread in his gut, he wasn't looking forward to telling the crew.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	12. Episode 12: Road to Recovery

A few weeks in and it wasn't going well.

"Are you sure they collected everything? None of these samples match what we found in her blood." McCoy grumbled as he looked over the negative results.

"Quinn said they gathered everything from the clearing they found her in." one of the lab techs replied with slight apprehension.

"Well, clearly they didn't." McCoy snapped before making his way to the comm. The lab tech knew better than to respond, he had been grumbling all week, it hit its peak today because they had just run the last sample.

"We need to go back to the planet," McCoy stated dropping any and all formality.

"Why's that Bones?" Kirk asked with a slight smirk in his voice. He had been saying the same thing for the last week. Kirk had started to find it almost amusing.

"We just ran the last test and it was negative, we need to go back to the beginning and start over," McCoy replied running a hand down his face.

"We're on it." McCoy heard him laying in a course.

"Bones...Thank you." McCoy's lip twitched in a smile.

"Just get us there," McCoy replied with a smirk in his voice. Kirk let a smile tug at the corners of his mouth.

Planetside...

The small group of scientists including McCoy and Kirk trudged along the same path the Nova crew had made.

"She said it came from the trees." One of the scientists replied looking up.

"We'll see," McCoy replied looking at his scanners.

A few hot hours later they were finding nothing of consequence.

"Just a little bit further," Kirk replied watching the others carefully. The group looked tired but were willing to go a little farther.

"Dammit, Jim I'm a Doctor not a..." whatever he was about to say died on his lips as a vine unfurled from high up in the tree.

"Everyone look up." The scientist's heads shot up in alarm. The vine shot out to the nearest person they ducked and Kirk pulled out his phaser. As it lashed out again Kirk took aim and shot it out of the tree.

"I think we've found our culprit." One of the scientists replied with a smile as they loaded it up.

"Let's get this back to the lab." McCoy barked but Kirk could see the relief in his body language. He was sure he was a mirror image. One step closer to Ramona being free from stasis.

Months Later

"I've got it." McCoy's shout rang out through the med bay.

"You said that two months ago and don't forget two months before that." Nurse Chapel chided from her side of the med bay. McCoy ignored her as he went over his findings. She gave a small chuckle before going back to her normal routine. She noticed after some time that he was becoming more and more sure of his findings. His shoulders were tighter and he looked almost excited. She wondered over to get a better look. As he moved to run a test she picked up the data pad he left behind. From everything she was reading, it looked promising.

"Should I notify the captain?" she asked looking over to the doctor. McCoy looked like he was debating before shaking his head.

"No, I need to be sure." the unspoken 'this time' hung in the air.

A few hours later McCoy looked like an angry ball of energy. He watched as Spock looked over his findings.

"You have found what the captain has been searching for doctor, the miracle cure as it's been called." McCoy refrained from any further comments too excited with his findings but masking it with his usual disdain for the half Vulcan.

"Should I tell the captain?" Spock asked as he watched McCoy prep the hypospray.

"No" he grumbled before heading off to find the patient.

Tapping a few buttons on the panel of the stasis pod he watched and waited as the standby process started. As the pod slid open he took the opportunity to inject the hypospray into her neck. He closed the top and waited for the readouts.

"Come on..." he whispered angrily under his voice. He hated being bested by medical mysteries and hers was one of the harder ones. He knew he should probably tell Kirk that he was gambling with her life, but he knew the young captain was at his wit's end arguing with Starfleet and worrying about her well being. No need to get his hopes up again, after the last couple of times he saw the enthusiasm starting to wane.

A smile broke out on his face, the results were the best news he'd seen in months. He started the process to bring her fully out of stasis. He believed the serum he came up with brought her out of the worst of it. Now all he had to do was treat any residual effects. He was about to call the bridge when she started to move. He knew the bridge could wait he needed to make sure she was okay. He moved to get a better look at the readings.

Her eyes opened slowly, blinking rapidly trying to adjust. McCoy monitored her readings from the screen off to the side. Everything was progressing normally until her eyes adjusted and she let out a banshee-like scream. McCoy checked the readings before rushing to the tube. For all intents and purposes, she was fine, he had no idea why she was screaming. He looked down at her face and he could see the sheer panic across her features. Her face was white as a sheet, eyes wide and mouth stretched open.

He cursed under his breath, he wondered if she had developed a fear of tubes. He pulled the top back and called the nurses over to get her to a bed. As they fawned over her trying to get everything under control. After a few minutes, everything started to calm down.

"What's wrong with me McCoy?" She slurred, her voice rough after the screaming.

"You got stung by a tree. It systematically shut down your body. You've been in stasis..." he stopped when she started to speak.

"Okay good, I was worried I had hallucinated the stinging tree." She joked but it came out as a rasp. His lip twitched as he watched her.

"Is everything in order? Any side effects to the serum?" he asked looking over the scanner readings as he waved it over her. He could see her start to try to move.

"Yeah, everything...Bones?" she whispered, he raised his eyebrow at the nickname but kept checking the readings.

"Yes."

"I-I can't feel my toes or my legs." She stuttered, trying to move her head to look down at her body.

"I can't feel my hands or arms, I can't move anything." Panic and fear laced her voice. When he didn't respond she looked at him and read all she needed to know, he didn't know what was happening to her either.

"Bones... what's happening to me?" Her voice was almost childlike. McCoy was a loss for words. Before he could try to form a coherent sentence the med bay doors whooshed open. Kirk strode in with a purpose, looking around before settling on the stasis area. McCoy could see the anger and fear seep from his features when he saw her awake. Ignoring the captain Ramona looked at McCoy.

"Am I going to have to go back into stasis until we can figure this out?" she whispered as the captain got closer. He could see the panic at the possibilities of being put back in the tube.

"No, from the preliminary readings it looks like it's working its way out of your system. We'll have to do a full-body scan to check what the problem is? The fact that you're able to breathe normally is promising." he stated calmly and quietly. She gave him a look of question at the last comment.

"If it was full body paralysis it's showing that it's more likely nerves and not muscles, if it was muscle paralysis the muscles in your throat would have a difficult time working and you wouldn't be able to breathe on your own, or it would be incredibly difficult." He saw her trying to follow but she started to zone. He knew this was a big hit so he stepped back to let the captain hopefully cheer her up.

"I'm glad to see you awake, sleeping beauty," Kirk whispered as he leaned over her.

"Sleeping Beauty?" she asked. Scrunching her face in confusion.

"It's something I stumbled across while researching, something about a cursed sleeping woman who happened to be incredibly beautiful." He waved his hand at the end as to tell her don't worry about it. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Shut it." He chuckled.

"I didn't say anything," she responded with a tired smile. He dropped his joking nature.

"I'm really glad to see you awake," he mumbled running a hand down her cheek. She turned into his hand for comfort. She was hoping to be stronger in front of him but the stress of the situation was pulling her guard down. She could feel herself fighting off the tears. When she looked back up at him she could see the concern on his face.

"Is everything alright? What did McCoy say?" he asked standing up looking for his chief medical officer.

"James..." her voice was soft. He looked back at her with a look of alarm, no one ever called him James anymore.

"I-I'm paralyzed from the neck down." she moved her head side to side weakly for emphasis. Kirk knew he had to look like a fish his mouth open ready to say something, but nothing was coming to mind.

"Don't worry. McCoy will figure this out. He's the best after all, or have you been lying all this time to try and impress me." He appreciated the joke but he could see the unshed tears in her eyes. He decided to play along.

"Of course he's the best he wouldn't be on the enterprise otherwise." he boasted putting a little charismatic ego into it and he was rewarded with a genuine smile.

"Everything will be fine. Get some rest and we'll fill you in later," he whispered leaning over placing a kiss on her forehead. She nodded weakly.

"Thank you James." she rasped before her eyes started to close.

-0-

A few hours later and she was getting her full body scan.

"It looks like the plant venom attached itself to the nerves along your spinal cord." McCoy gripped as he looked over the readings.

"So...bad news?" Ramona asked sardonically.

"It can be if we don't figure out how to get rid of it without causing permanent damage." She let out a deep breath but nodded her head. She had hope again, at least a little.

It was night cycle by the time they were done.

"I'll see you in the morning. Have them grab me if anything changes." McCoy started as he started leaving for the night.

"Thank you Doctor." genuine gratitude laced her voice. He gave what she interpreted as a smile before turning.

"Get some rest." and with that, he left the sickbay.

She turned to the nurses around the med bay.

"Is there any way one of you could take me to a room with a window." She asked a passing nurse.

"But it's just space, there's nothing to see right now." one nurse replied. Ramona gave a half-smile.

"I know but I would really like to see it." She asked hoping her voice came out pleading. The nurses gave each other a look but relented.

"There's an observation deck on this level, not too far in case anything happens." Ramona nodded in understanding. They got her onto an adjustable, movable bed and pushed her down the hall. They set her up in front of the window.

"Do mind if I have 5 minutes to myself." Ramona pleaded. The nurses looked at each other apprehensively. Ramona understood where they were coming from Kirk and McCoy would rain down on them if anything happened to her on their watch.

"Look it's only five minutes, even if something happened which it won't there would only be a small window for it to do any damage." She tried to persuade.

"You get three minutes." One nurse compromised. Ramona broke out in a grin, she would take it. They left and started counting.

Ramona's smiled dropped as she looked out the window. She stared into the empty vacuum of space, nothing but vast darkness. She remembered when she was young and looking out at the night sky with her parents declaring that she would be the best explorer there ever was. Now that could all be derailed by a simple mistake, not really a mistake, an accident. She could feel the frustrating building behind her eyes, the sadness tugging at her chest and the two clashing violently in her thoughts as the day caught up with her.

As the observation door opened a single tear rolled down her cheek. She hoped to god McCoy could fix this, or she would lose a piece of what made her whole.

"You ready?" One nurse asked coming up on her side. Ramona felt like a foolish child, unable to wipe away the tear.

"Of course," Ramona replied with a forced smile. She knew the nurse noticed but was glad when she said nothing. They made their way silently to the med bay. As the nurse was turning to go.

"Please don't tell them what you saw in the observation room," she whispered hoping the nurse heard her. The nurse paused before nodding. Ramona knew she didn't have to tell her which persons she was talking about.

Ramona flopped her head back trying to shift to find a comfortable spot. Damn this body she thought as she tried to wriggle any part of her to move. She could feel the frustration building in the front of her head. After what felt like an hour she had enough.

"Damn it!" she all but cried as she let out a frustrated groan.

"What's wrong?" another one of the nurses asked her eyes wide with concern. Ramona's face flushed in embarrassment.

"I...uh...can you adjust the pillow, please," Ramona asked calmly. The nurse gave her a bemused smile.

"Of course." the nurse proceeded to lift her head gently and fluff and adjust the pillow.

"Thank you," Ramona mumbled as she settled in for the night. She looked up at the ceiling and lost herself in thought.

"I wonder what the Nova's been up to..." with that last thought she drifted off, large in part to the sedative the nurse had injected a few minutes earlier.


	13. Episode 13: Reality Hits Like a Brick

_FlashBack_

_"Mom, Mom look a shooting star." a five-year-old Romana eagerly pointed to the sky from her bedroom window._

_"I see honey." her mother's kind face came down next to hers to see out the window._

_"It's not actually a shooting star it's a meteorite..." Ramona turned to look at her father who stopped talking as he looked upon his wife's face. He put up his hands in surrender._

_"She's never going to learn if we don't start teaching her these things." he defended with a small smile._

_"She's five, I think we can hold off a little longer." her mother stated as she placed a kiss on her husband's cheek._

_"What's a meteorite?" Ramona asked as they finished talking._

_"It's a piece of a comet which is like a big snowball hurtling through space at super high speeds." Her father started with pure excitement in his voice, which had Romana inching closer to hear more._

_"Another time dear, you need to get back in bed." Her mother cut off as the two gave her pouty faces._

_"But she wants to learn about space." Her husband whined._

_"Yeah, I want to learn about space." Ramona defended._

_"She's using you to stay up...now let's get you back into bed." Her mother stated as she picked her up to tucked her back in._

_"Mom, what's space like?"Ramona asked as they tucked her in._

_"Cold and Dangerous." her mother replied gently, she kissed Ramona's forehead before standing up. She waited at the door as her husband said good night._

_"It's cold and dangerous, but there are so many things still undiscovered it's like searching for treasure without a map." He watched as his daughter's eyes lit up, he knew she loved playing pirate and played to the young girl's weakness for treasure hunting._

_"Like space Pirates?" she asked while yawning. He chuckled softly._

_"No, not pirates. If you want to find treasure fair and square you need to be an explorer." He knew he was simplifying things but he didn't want to say too much or encourage her to do something wrong._

_"Mom. Dad." they both moved closer to hear her tired voice as she started to drift._

_"I want to go to space and be the best explorer ever, and find lots of...treasure." and with the last word she was out like a light. Her parents chuckled quietly as they closed the door._

_-0-_

Ramona's eyes opened slowly, shaking off the memories that surfaced. Whatever she had been dreaming about brought up a lot of old memories, or one in particular. It had been years since she thought of her parents. Not since the transporter accident, she talked to their photo at night but it wasn't the same.

She let out a soft sigh as she tried to adjust herself, but then remembered her predicament. She let out a soft groan.

"I see you're awake," McCoy stated as he stopped by her side with a handheld scanner.

"What gave me away, my eyes being open?" she replied sarcastically.

"Smartass." He muttered with a smirk.

"I heard that," she smirked back. He shot her a look before going back to scanning her.

"So how long was I asleep?" she asked trying to look around the sickbay.

"12 hours today, about five months before that," he stated looking over her readings. Whatever she thought he was going to say was definitely not that. Five months. Damn.

"Where's my crew, where's the Nova, who's the captain?" she fired off after the shock wore off. McCoy raised an eyebrow, at her rapid-fire questions.

"I think Jim would be better suited to answer your questions, he should be down here in a few hours." She raised her eyebrow at him.

"You expect me to wait that long to find out about my crew?" She asked incredulously. Her voice raising.

"Yes," he stated getting slightly irritated. She huffed at him flopping her head back against the pillow. He stared at her with mild frustration, he swore for a second it was like talking to Jim, he shook his head. What a dangerous combination.

"While you were sleeping we managed to analyze the serum. We think we found a way to isolate the venom along your spinal nerves." He stated watching her carefully. If she was anything like Jim she wasn't going to like talking about this.

"Is it ready to be tested on me or do you need more trial runs?" She asked calmly. He was surprised by her answer.

"We ran a few trials but it's only been a few hours, we won't know of any long term effects yet?" Her face took on a contemplative look.

"But the serum is working?" she asked. He must have looked completely shocked because she chuckled.

"Don't be so surprised, when you surround yourself with doctors you pick up some of the lingo." the corner of his mouth picked up slightly, maybe she isn't like Jim after all.

"Alright, inject me with what you got. I trust you'll take care of any side effects as they come." correction she is like Jim, except she was explaining her reckless behavior whereas Jim would just wing it and tell him later. He chuckled and shook his head.

"You must be out of your damn mind," he replied humorlessly.

"Do it before James gets here, or he'll just stop you," she stated with a tone of finality in her voice. He raised his brow he seemed to be doing that a lot around her, he was finding her fascinating and frustrating at the same time. She seemed to know Jim more than he was led to believe. She sure as hell acted like him.

"Yes ma'am." He replied sardonically. She rolled her eyes.

"Just do it. I want to walk again." Frustration lacing her voice. If she could, she would have done it already.

"Jims going to kill me," he grumbled under his breath.

"I would image your use to that threat by now doctor," she replied with a tight smile.

"Hurry up before I lose my nerve," she replied blinking and looking at the ceiling. He called nurse chapel over with the modified serum. She gave him a wary look as she handed over the hypospray. He hesitated for just a second before pressing the hypospray into her neck. Ramona flinched but other than that said nothing.

"How long do you think it will take?" she asked rolling her eyes from the ceiling to meet McCoys. Before he could answer the med bay door opened and Kirk stood at the entrance looking around the med bay. When he saw them his eyes lit up.

"Don't tell him. I will." She whispered fiercely. He shot her a glare, but nodded and stepped away. Kirk walked up slowly when he saw the two glaring at each other.

"Am I interrupting something?" the corner of his mouth lifting trying to ease the tension.

"Everythings fine, right McCoy?" she asked with a tight smile.

"Yes, I believe it is," he stated before heading toward his office. He paused and placed his hand on Jim's shoulder.

"Watch out for that one, she might be the one person crazier than you are," he stated before disappearing into his office.

"Wanna tell me what that was about?" He asked raising his eyebrow. A small smile stretched across her face, the eyebrow thing must be contagious or the only way for anyone to communicate with McCoy. Her smile caused his other eyebrow to raise.

"Maybe later." she chuckled.

"But I've got a few questions for you." she gave him a pointed look.

"Ask away," he replied opening his arms.

Where's the Nova, Where's my crew, Who's the Captain, and how much shit are you in for helping me?" she fired off, he chuckled at the last question.

"Well Quinn has made it to Captain and is currently running the Nova, the crew is intact minus the normal turnover. The Nova is currently on a mission but I'm not up to date on the details, Quinn stopped sending me reports after he got promoted three months ago. I only know as much as I do thanks to Admiral Pike." he laughed humorlessly.

"I don't have many allies left in Starfleet." his expression becoming somber. She willed her arm to reach out to touch him, but of course, nothing happened.

"Have you told them I'm awake?" she asked slowly.

"I sent a message to the Nova and Starfleet and have yet to hear back." she let out a puff of air as she fell back on the pillow. She was relieved and happy for Quinn, but everything with Starfleet she didn't know where that left her.

"Don't worry too much, McCoy and his team are working on a modified cure for the venom running along your spine," he replied gently putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I-I know, I had him inject it in me a few minutes before you walked in." she stuttered and getting stronger at the end.

"He what!?" he looked like he was about to storm into the office.

"Don't go after him, I made him do it." she got his attention as she tried to move her arm to stop him. A pain shot up her arm like little needles stabbing along her muscles, but it was gone as she stopped trying to move.

"I trust him," she stated as McCoy walked over to see what the commotion was about.

"I take it you told him," he stated raising his damn eyebrow. She let out another sigh before settling back. Before either one could say anything the pain came back full force but it wasn't just in her arm.

It started at the base of her neck radiating down her back and across her limbs, she started to seize letting out a silent screen in too much pain to actually make any noise.

McCoy took the sedative hypospray from nurse Chapel. Kirk backed up and wiped a hand across his hair as he watched her seize and twitch.

"Damn Woman...He just got you back...I'm not letting you leave so soon." McCoy ground out under his breath. Her eyes were starting to glaze over but he knew she heard him. A few minutes later the thrashing subsided.

"What's...happening?" she breathed when the pain started to subside.

"Your regaining feeling all at once, imagine the feeling you get when your limb falls asleep and blood starts flowing back into it. It's like that but across your whole body and it's your nerves, not your muscles." He tried to explain.

"We'll test your movement when you regain consciousness." She nodded slowly before starting to drift off.

-0-

A few hours later she started to come around.

"How do you feel?" McCoy and Kirk asked at the same time. They shot each other a look but didn't comment further.

"Like I got hit with a pile of bricks," she stated pushing herself up slightly and smiling tiredly at the fact that she could.

"Do you know how incredibly stupid you are, putting your life on the line like that?" Kirk's voice raised slightly wasting no time laying into her. She opened her mouth to respond but he cut her off. McCoy shot him a look.

"I mean what were you thinking?" He asked running a hand through his hair, trying to find the right words. He was relieved and terrified at the same time and he didn't like it.

"I was thinking I wanted to walk again, excuse me for wanting full control of my body back." she all but hissed, not appreciating the attack after just waking up. He let out a humorless laugh.

"Do you know how incredibly selfish you are, not to mention how childish your being?" He added waving his hands at her for effect.

"Childish, you've got to be kidding me." she shot back raising her voice in emphasis.

"So you agree that you're being selfish." He pointed at her as if he'd won the point.

"I-I don't have to listen to you insult me." she huffed crossing her arms, resorting to childish tactics.

"Actually you do, my ship my rules." He shot back with a smirk that told her he won. Her arms came uncrossed as she leaned forward, she was going to fire back when McCoy interrupted.

"Enough children, can I take care of my patient now?" McCoy asked eyeing the two as if they'd lost their minds. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from Kirk. He stepped back waved at McCoy to proceed.

"Quit being a child," McCoy stated under his breath as he scanned her.

"Tell him to stop being an ass." They both let out an amused noise through their nose.

"That'll be the day," McCoy replied looking over the readings.

"We'll have to do a full-body to make sure they're completely gone, but preliminary readings indicate that the serum was a success," McCoy added as he moved toward his office.

"Now I'm going to go get it ready, don't kill each other while I'm gone." He told to the two captains. She mock glared at him as he walked away, he reminded her of Quinn only crankier. Both were in awkward silence for a few minutes before Ramona broke it.

"Look I'm sorry if I concerned you...and I want to say thank you for everything you've done for me, and I don't just mean with this, with everything since we met." She replied her expression serious. Not wanting to go into another round of arguing.

"I was going to apologize first," he replied half-heartedly. She shot him a genuine smile, appreciating his ability to read her.

"I've missed this." He replied walking up to her and toying with a piece of her hair. She wasn't sure she'd ever tell him she enjoyed it when he did that.

"I didn't know you loved my hair so much," she replied amused but loving the attention despite her obvious disheveled appearance. He just smiled at her.

"I've missed you too," she replied quietly.

-0-

Kirk had to run back to the bridge, but not before he stole a chaste kiss which left Ramona slightly giddy through the whole scan. Which in turn irritated McCoy asking her to stop acting like a damn school girl so he could get a proper reading. She knew she was irritating him, and she was having a lot of fun doing it. No wonder Kirk loved bugging him so much.

All her readings came back normal and she was currently discussing a physical therapy plan with McCoy.

"You seem to have good control, it'll just be a matter of getting those muscles back into shape." he nodded at her. She let out a sigh but broke out in a smile, she could move again. She could go back into space soon, a warm feeling spread through her chest at the thought.

Two Weeks Later...

Starfleet had wished her a speedy recovery and would work out details when she was cleared for duty, but they had requested she return to Earth for a full workup. She still hadn't received word from the Nova and that wasn't sitting well with her at all. She just hoped they hadn't fallen into Starfleets trap or worse yet Admiral Marcus' hands.

She was currently on her back using a leg weight machine. Her progress was blowing McCoy away.

"How are you feeling today?" Nurse Chapel asked with a smile as she scanned her.

"I feel great," Ramona said with enthusiasm. Answering the same question she had been asked the last two weeks.

"Of course you do." Nurse Chapel chuckled.

"Your readings look good," she added.

"I'm in better shape than I was before the accident." Ramona laughed as she finished her rep. She got off the machine and wiped the sweat off her face and neck.

"I don't want to get your hope up but I think you're done with physical therapy if these readings are anything to go by. We'll have to run it by McCoy of course." Nurse Chapel chuckled.

"Of course." Ramona laughed with her. During her time in the med bay she had gotten along well with the blonde nurse, they bonded over irritating McCoy. It was their favorite pastime. They both had mutual respect for the man, of course, it was just a lot of fun to get him spouting off in that soft southern drawl.

Before their conversation could go any farther the comm beeped.

"Captain Hill please report to my ready room." Kirk's voice floated through the med bay.

"On my way Captain," she replied before sending Chapel a thankful look.

"Duty calls," Ramona stated with a gleeful smile.

She made it to the ready room in record time. The physical therapy had been doing wonders.

"You wanted to see me, captain," she replied calmly trying to hide her smile, but the look on Kirks face had her dropping it completely.

"We've just received word from the Nova," Kirk replied solemnly.


	14. Episode 14: Secrets and Lies

_FlashBack_

_"Mom, Dad, I'm home," Ramona called through the house, still in her cap and gown from the graduation ceremony. They had missed her 18th Birthday the week before but promised to be home for her graduation. The ever disappointing life of a Starfleet brat._

_"Hmm, I wonder where they are?" she mumbled out loud as she stripped off her gown and grabbed something from the fridge. She had a few parties lined up with some of her friends but she wanted to catch up with her parents first. She made her way to the comm panel on the wall to see if they would be late for yet another one of her life events. She tapped the screen and scrolled through. She saw a missed call and played it._

_"Sorry we're running late sweetheart, we ran into an energy field on the way home. Should be back a little after the ceremony. Sorry, we're going to miss it. We're so proud of you." They were both in the shot smiling. She loved her parents and when they were home they were great parents, they were her motivation to go to Starfleet in a few months. Her mother was an engineer and her father was a science officer. She wasn't a hundred percent what they did exactly because unlike her parents she excelled in Linguistics, alien languages and cultures fascinated her. She sighed and let the message play again before closing it out, save it for later to guilt-trip them. She chuckled at the thought._

_Waiting an hour and still no parents she left a message she was going to one of her friend's house and would be back later that night, by curfew of course._

_A few hours into the party she was starting to get a strange feeling in her gut. Not a moment later two Starfleet officers found her in the backyard._

_"Ramona Hill, please come with us." The one she recognized as her parent's ship's captain spoke. She nodded weakly, the feeling in her gut intensifying. They rode in silence all the way home. It was a blur but they made it inside and sat her down._

_"What happened, are they alright?" her voice barely above a whisper. The two men looked at each other before answering._

_"I'm sorry to tell you, there was a transporter accident. Your parents along with two other crew members were lost."_

_"Was it from the energy field you passed through." the captain raised his eyebrow._

_"We believe it may have had something to do with it." Ramona stood up and ran a hand through her hair. It wasn't hitting her yet, she could feel it in the back of her mind but it was like a vivid dream. She didn't want to acknowledge it, it wasn't true. Being too calm she turned to the captain._

_"What happens now?" her voice emotionless. The captain saw her shutting down._

_"Do you have someone to stay with?" she let out a merciless laugh._

_"Yeah, I can go to my grandparents, I practically lived there anyway, with how much they were gone." she bit out stomping off to her room. She knew she would regret her attitude and comments later but her mind was swirling too fast to keep up. She packed hurriedly, her hands shaking as she tossed random things in the bag, she stomped back out._

_"Alright, let's go," she stated blankly. The captain and the first officer exchanged looks but said nothing. They made it to her grandparents and the captain filled them in, having served in Starfleet understood but Ramona could see the sadness behind their eyes. Ramona didn't wait and stormed to her room not wanting to have to face what her grandparents had to say. She heard the captain leave and she opened her bag._

_She started to riffle through the things she haphazardly threw into her bag. Some of the things she packed while crazed were almost laughable, but what gave her pause was the vintage picture in the front compartment. It was a picture of her as a girl with her parents on a camping trip. They were laughing and smiling. A tear rolled down her cheek for the first time since she heard the news and she threw the picture as hard as she could against the wall, shattering the glass and cracking the frame._

_She sat down hard on the bed, sliding to the floor in one swift movement. So many emotions ripped through her at once causing her to let out a strangled scream. Guilt, fear, and anger swirled around her chest._

_She let the emotions run rampant through her mind, her physical being switching from wanting to throw something to sobbing uncontrollably. Sometime in her rage-filled sadness, she felt a pair of arms encircle her. She didn't hesitate to latch onto the arm across her chest. Holding it as a lifeline. They didn't whisper sweet words, they merely held her as she got it out of her system._

_"I don't remember the last time I told them I loved them..." Ramona rasped after what seemed like hours, her grandmother's arms tightened around her._

_"They Knew, believe me, they knew," she responded through her own tears. Ramona drifted off too weak for anything else._

-0-

"What happened?" Ramona asked cutting to the chase, sitting down across from Kirk.

"They were attacked and Quinn was severely injured." He replied watching her carefully. She calculated the outcomes and nodded for him to continue.

"Where are they docking?" she asked. She had more questions but those could wait until the basics were answered.

"They're heading for the nearest deep space station to get him stabilized and then Nova will be heading back to earth," he stated looking over the data pad.

"Take me there." she blurted before she thought of what she was saying. Kirk raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. Realizing what she did she sat back and looked away.

"I'm sorry, please take me to the Nova." she added looking back to Kirk. He sat forward, understanding flashing through his features.

"We're already on our way." a smile cracked his face. Her mouth gaped open. She wanted to hit him.

"You ass, you could have told me that sooner," she added thankful for the mild humor. He sat back and chuckled to himself.

"Your right I could have." he shot her a bemused smirk. She shook her head at him and sat back thinking about her crew. He saw the change in demeanor and knew not to poke fun at her for a little while.

"We should reach the station with in the next few hours. No word yet on the condition of the Nova or it's crew." Uhura broke the silence and ended the comm. Kirk nodded to himself but watched for Ramona's reaction. He saw relief and apprehension at the news and wished there was something more he could do for her. He knew how much waiting weighed on the mind of a good captain.

-0-

They had reached the space station and Kirk could see the unrest in her eyes.

"He'll be fine, we'll figure out what happened and fix what we can. That's all we can do," he stated the obvious but he knew she needed to hear it, he had a feeling she wasn't doing a very good job of convincing herself of it. Worry and guilt could make a person do stupid things.

They beamed down, she didn't even notice as she was too worried about her crew to give it much thought.

They came across the commander and she forgot herself for a moment.

"Where are they, where is my crew? Where's Captain Adrian Quinn being treated?" she all but attacked the young commander. Kirk put a hand on her shoulder pulling her back slightly. He was shocked by her lack of composure, he had yet to see this side of her and wasn't sure what to make of it.

"I'm sorry Commander Lore she's just a little on edge. Thank you for the hospitality, can you please direct us to Nova's captain. And what information you have on the incident would be much appreciated." Kirk smiled politely but shot her a look when she tried to open her mouth. She glared at him but remained silent.

"Yes of course right this way." He gave them both a look of confusion as he directed them to the sickbay. As soon as they were in the sickbay, she made a beeline for Quinn's bed. Kirk hung back with the commander to get more info.

She looked at Quinn's prone body, he wasn't physically scarred or blemished he looked almost peaceful.

"What happened to you?" she ran a hand through his hair as a mother would a small child. Kirk looked on with a strange feeling in his chest, for the first time since he met her he started to question the relationship between the captain and the first officer.

"As I was saying we don't know much about what happened Brooks is refusing to speak to anyone, Starfleet ordered him to the brig." The Commander continued looking disheartened. As if to say he really didn't want to.

"They got the message that Captain Hill was alive and he won't talk to anyone but her." Lore added looking to the captain.

"He was beaten pretty bad when we got him. We were able to fix most of it, but he hasn't woken up yet." Lore stated looking to Quinn's prone form.

"We'll go see Brooks, hopefully, get everything squared away." He patted the Commander on the shoulder giving him a reassuring smile.

"Ramona, we need to visit the brig. He'll be here when we get back," he stated. She looked to the two and nodded, she placed a hand on Quinn's cheek and whispered for a speedy recovery. Kirk felt the pang in his chest again but brushed it off as they headed to the brig.

"Brooks won't speak to anyone but me?" She questioned as they made their way to the brig. She noticed Kirk was acting differently but was too focused on the task at hand.

"That's what he said." Lore added as they stepped through the doors of the brig. They saw Brooks stand up from the bed as Ramona approached the glass.

"Captain your awake." a genuine smile broke out on his otherwise stoic face.

"You know how I like to keep you waiting." a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"Don't I know it," he replied sarcastically. She gave a small chuckle, but her demeanor changed as she geared up for a serious conversation.

"Brooks, what happened?" She watched Brooks eye the two men behind her.

"Not until the other two leave as well as the security officers." She saw the commander about to protest but gave him a look and a nod that she would be okay and to do as he asked. Kirk looked reluctant but reinforced her decision and helped usher the two out of the room. Expecting a full explanation once this was over. After everyone exited the room she turned back to Brooks.

"Okay so what's with all the cloak and dagger bullshit," she stated crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Not yet." He pressed something and the comms in the room shut down.

"What the hell was that?" She eyed him warily, wondering what exactly her crew had been up to in her absence. Ignoring her question he started filling her in.

"Admiral Marcus contacted us to help him, promoting Quinn as leverage." She opened her mouth to flood him with questions but shut her mouth, thought for a second, and started.

"Help with what?" she asked watching him closely.

"A project with a man I believe you remember." He gave her a look and down to her neck as emphasis, realization rang through her.

"Kahn." She blurted a lump forming in her throat at the thought of her crew getting tangled with him again, Brooks merely nodded.

"Kahn attacked Quinn, in an attempt to escape. Marcus had contacted us to oversee and run minor security for his project. He needed people who already knew Kahn, who could be controlled and who have enough knowledge to know if Kahn was creating something that wasn't part of Marcus' plan." Brooks explained watching the door carefully knowing his time was almost up.

"Why won't you tell Starfleet any of this?" She asked already fearing the answer.

"We don't know who we can trust. Marcus is a well-respected Admiral," he stated in finality. Giving her a look that said she should know better than anyone how Marcus operated.

Before she could respond the comms came back online as well as the door opening. The security officers came in first, phasers drawn as the commander and captain came in second. They paused at the sight that greeted them. Both were exactly as they had been when they left.

"Is there a problem?" She asked playing stupid.

"Yeah the comms for this room went down and the door wouldn't open." Lore stated going over to a comm to run a diagnostic.

"Did you two notice anything?" He asked not really looking at the two. He was more concerned with the equipment.

"No can't say that I did." She replied looking to Brooks who shook his head. Kirk noticed the look, she was definitely going to be filling him in later.

"Captain Hill we should return to the Enterprise. Bones needs to do a check-up." Kirk stated, watching as she gave Brooks a look at the statement and leaving the room.

"Want to tell me where we're really going." She stated.

"I know Bones doesn't have a check-up for me until next week, so..." she stated turning to him as they stepped into the lift.

"We're going to my quarters." He smirked. She rolled her eyes but shot him a bemused look.

"Wouldn't it better to go to your ready room?" she shot him a look. He smiled but didn't say anything. The doors opened and they made it to the transporter room. She started to tense up. She turned to the comm operator and whispered a question. They smiled softly and shook their head. Kirk shot her a questioning look.

"No strange anomalies," she reported softly to herself more as a reassurance.

"Are you afraid of transporters?" Kirk asked softly.

"Don't be ridiculous." she tried to respond with force but it fell flat at her lackluster conviction. As they started to energize she shut her eyes tightly. He would have chuckled if he didn't see the serious fear in her face.

-0-

They made it to his quarters without speaking. He could see her mind going a mile a minute but wasn't sure what to address first. Her Chief engineer being held on the station or her fear of transporters. He knew Bones didn't like them from a scientific standpoint but hers came from something deeper he could tell. He wasn't sure how he should proceed with either topic.

Ramona was still shaken by Brook's information, she wasn't sure what her next move should be. She hadn't realized they were in his quarters until he asked her what food she would like replicated.

"I'm sorry what?" she asked snapping out of her trance. She shook her head clearing her thoughts.

"I want alcohol, strongest you can find," she stated finding herself a seat. She pawed at her uniform finding herself suddenly uncomfortable with the symbol. Kirk rustled around in his room for the good stuff.

"I wish I was out of uniform," she stated not thinking about what she was saying, taking the glass from him.

"I think I can help with that." he chuckled when her cheeks dusted a light pink. She took a large dram of her drink to hide her face and to calm her nerves. He fixed her with a stare and she decided to down the rest of the glass for good measure. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"You might want to slow down." He stated calmly taking a drink himself a small smile gracing his lips. She set her glass down and relaxed on the couch. She could feel the alcohol taking effect.

"Is there are reason we're in your quarters and not the ready room?" she asked looking at the ceiling, head resting on the back of the couch. In all honesty, he had no idea why he dragged her to his quarters, it should have been the ready room but he made a split-second decision, and so far he wasn't disappointed.

"I need you to tell me what the hell is going on," he stated sitting forward. She waved her hand, still without looking at him.

"Not right now." her voice airy.

"Dammit Mona, right now," he growled standing up. He had done a lot for her and he deserved some answers. This is not how he imagined this going, he lost his cool and she was already drunk. He had a feeling none of his questions were going to be answered tonight.

"Where the hell do you get off ordering me." she shot up growling out, tilting slightly.

"I wasn't ordering you." he shot back, she must have realized he hadn't and started laugh to herself. He chuckled when she showed no signs of stopping.

"I'm sorry, there's a lot going on and I'm still sorting through it. The alcohol definitely isn't helping, what did you give me?" She asked putting her hand on the couch to stabilize herself.

"Romulan ale" he shot her a cheeky smile. He finished off his drink. She chuckled.

"That's illegal, naughty, naughty." she wiggled her finger moving toward him but stumbled slightly crashing into his chest. They both fell back onto the couch into a fit of laughter.

They laughed together in the buzz of Romulan Ale. She looked up from his chest meeting his eyes and stopped laughing slowly, he did as well. They stared at each other slowly moving in.

His lips crashed down on hers, she rolled them so she was on top as they made out on the couch. His hand trailed up her thigh pulling her Starfleet dress up as he did. Her hands slid under his uniform top grazing his abdomen, she felt it clench at her touch. She smirked at the reaction. She pulled back slightly, but not out of his reach.

"Do you want to move to the bedroom?" she asked her voice lost as he kissed along her jaw. She felt him smile into her neck. He rolled her so he was on top, she chuckled. He moved back grabbing her and pulling her up with him.

"I believe you said something about the bedroom." His voice was almost unrecognizable, it sent a shiver down her spine at the unspoken promises he could bring her. She trailed after him as he pulled her slowly to the bedroom, a smirk playing across her face.

-0-

"What are you doing at the window?" Kirk asked from the bed, sitting up.

"Just thinking." She murmured over her shoulder, giving him a soft smile. A sheet loosely wrapped around her naked form.

"You should come back to bed." She heard some rustling and felt his hands on her shoulders pulling her back to his chest.

"You'll get cold," he whispered into her neck. She moved her head and their cheeks brushed, his stubble causing a new sensation to course through her. She followed him back to the bed. She was going to miss this.

Ramona woke up a short time later and looked at the sleeping captain. She wanted to blame the ale for what happened, but she knew this was coming and she would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy it. That's what made this all that much harder.

She sat down at his comm, looked over her shoulder to make sure he was still asleep. She recorded a message and left his quarters to make the necessary arrangements.

A few hours later she was sitting on the Novas bridge, heading for earth. Quinn still hadn't woken up but he was safely tucked away in Nova's sickbay.

"Captain, we'll be home in a few hours." Brook's voice came over the comm.

"It's good to have you back Brooks." Her voice robotic lost in thought.

"Same here captain," he replied before the comm went dead. Her mind went back to the sleeping Captain she left behind. She didn't imagine it going the way it had. Drunk on Romulan Ale and her life twisted sideways, but it was a hell of a night.

She started to think about her next move. She cashed in a big favor by getting Admiral Archer to get Brooks out of the brig, she figured Marcus would have eventually come along but she couldn't take that chance. All these secrets and all the lies not to mention the cover-ups were starting to run wild through her brain. She rubbed her temples to help focus on the task at hand.

Her first move was to get to earth and regain her command. What came after that was still up for grabs.


	15. Episode 15: Starting Over...Sort Of

Kirk awoke to his alarm and an empty bed. It was cold, she had been gone a while. He sat up rubbing his face looking around for any indication of where she went. He saw the comm blinking with a message. He stood up and padded over to the comm, pressing play on the message half asleep.

"James I'm sorry for running out on you, I need to clean up my mess. I'm really sorry about not explaining anything last night, there isn't enough time to explain what's been happening. I promise someday I'll explain it all but not now." she paused on the screen looking over her shoulder. Kirk was suddenly more awake, sitting up straighter as he listened. She looked back to the screen.

"About last night." she bit her lip, a smile graced her lips as she looked down.

"I don't regret what happened. I hope you don't either." she looked back up. He saw the truth and vulnerability in her eyes at the statement. He almost envied her honesty.

"It was the best night I've had in a long, long time." the corner of his mouth twitched. His thoughts exactly.

"Also please don't try to follow me. You've jeopardized your command enough for me, I thank you more than I can put into words, but I ask you please stop for your sake more than mine. I wish I could tell you more, but there just isn't enough time." She let out a breath, opened her mouth then shut it again.

"We'll see each other again, I promise." she smiled halfheartedly and stopped the message. He stood up running a hand through his hair. She couldn't have gotten far, really where was she going to go. Then it hit him the Nova was heading to earth.

"Shit" he got ready in record time and headed for the bridge.

Spock looked at him as he exited the turbo lift.

"Captain is everything alright?" Spock asked standing from the chair raising an eyebrow.

"How long ago did the Nova leave?" He asked looking around the bridge, waiting for someone to respond.

"Five hours ago, captain." Checkov replied, tapping the comm to bring up the data.

"They will reach earth in a few hours." he continued. Kirk opened his mouth about to give the order. He was not letting her go that easy.

"Captain I must interject. Captain Hill gave specific orders not to pursue." Kirk shot him a look. Of course, she would.

"We also have new orders from Starfleet." Kirk realized he was fighting a losing battle, his crew wasn't going to let him fly off to get her back when he had no real reason. He resigned himself. What was he going to do when he caught her anyway.

He took the data padd from Spock, scanning it briefly.

"We're to observe a civilization with primitive technology?" he looked up from the data padd in exasperation. He did count himself lucky they hadn't stripped him of his command after all the shit he's pulled.

"Alright Sulu plot a course." He gave a half hearted wave.

"Planet Nibiru here we come," he mumbled under his breath at Spock's questioning stare he assumed he heard him.

-0-

On earth, Ramona was under heavy scrutiny as was her crew. Starfleet couldn't prove they had done anything wrong but she could tell they were itching to pin her with something. She was truly on her own as she had planned. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea in hindsight.

After days of questioning, they finally released her from custody with full control of the Nova. They had demoted Quinn finding that he wasn't ready for his own command yet, he was appointed her first officer again after much debate and begging. Things with Starfleet were on track to level out minus a more watchful eye, now it was on to more important matters. She needed to find out what Marcus was up to and put a stop to it before he got people killed.

"Captain may I have a word." Admiral Marcus stated coming up behind her as she started to load into the shuttle. She cursed her fear of transporters but had a feeling he would have shown up there too.

"Can I help you with something Admiral?" she asked stepping back and crossing her arms cocking her hip to the side. He shot her a bemused smile as he looked around the shuttle.

"I thought for sure you would have gotten over your fear of transporters after all these years," he said more to himself. She raised her eyebrow.

"Again I ask what is it you want from me." her voice stronger and more irritated. He chuckled as he moved toward her under the guise of wishing her well.

"Quinn is only the beginning, if you turn your back on this project things will get far more difficult for you," he stated behind a fake smile. It was her turn to smile.

"My dear Admiral who said anything about me turning down the offer. You haven't even asked." she had a dark glint in her eye, no one threatened her crew. She felt satisfaction at the look of surprise on his face before it was replaced with the usual stoic mask.

"It seems being around Kirk has given you a backbone." he mulled more to himself, she scoffed and waited for him to continue.

"Well that's good to hear Captain, I'll send you the coordinates once you're aboard." he turned to leave but paused and turned back slightly.

"Oh and if you have some notion of derailing my plan. I would suggest rethinking it." and with that cryptic afterthought, he was gone.

Once she was aboard her shuttle she let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. She sat forward putting her head in her hands, running a hand through her hair. What had she just gotten into.

"Everything alright Captain?" Mathews asked. She looked up surprised.

"It is now." she smiled softly.

"It's good to have you back." He stated.

"It's good to be back."

-0-

Once she was aboard she called Brooks to her ready room to fill her in on the situation. She wasn't sure how many of her officers she could trust, Marcus was a conniving asshole and she wouldn't put it past him to corrupt some of her crew. Hell, she expected it.

"Alright, where should we start?" She asked breaking the silence.

"Admiral Marcus contacted us a month after your accident. Offered Quinn full command if he helped him with a project. He refused at first out of respect for you." Brooks broke the silence. She nodded along having guessed as much.

"What is the project he's having us oversee?" she asked. He pulled out his data padd and slide it to her. She grabbed it and read through the basic information.

"He's making an advanced warship." she gathered from the data, her face scrunching in thought.

"Why?"

"Starfleet doesn't need a warship, we operate on peace. There's no need for one." she continued. Brooks didn't say anything. She gathered her own conclusion from the silence.

"He's planning to start a war." she deadpanned. Her mind connected the pieces to the puzzle, the man that Marcus took from her before Starfleet even knew, the advanced ship that exploded, Klingon space. She rubbed her eyes as everything fell into place.

"Are you telling me he's going to start a war with the Klingons?" her voice exasperated not looking at Brooks.

"He's making a supply and demand scenario, He wants to prove we need him and that monstrosity he's creating with a mad man," she added shaking her head in disbelief. The Nero incident must have rattled Marcus to the core.

"So it seems," Brooks growled out in frustration.

"What has Kahn been working on?" she ran her hand through her hair and looked up.

"A little of everything. Weapons mainly," he stated.

"Marcus has to be certifiably insane." she gave a humorless smile. Brooks nodded in agreement.

"Kahn can't be trusted, I don't know how he's motivating him but it's got to be something good to keep him in line," she murmured more to herself.

"Marcus is using his crew. He's threatening to kill a member of his crew if he doesn't do as he's told." her blood ran cold. She remembered how he reacted when he first woke up, Marcus was an idiot if he thought he could control a man like Kahn.

"Has Marcus made any of you kill a member of his crew yet?" she asked fearing the answer.

"No. He's been behaving, Quinn being the exception but if we know anything about him, he's just biding his time until the opportunity arises for him to escape." Brooks added sitting back and crossing his arms. She sat back trying to take it all in.

"Before we check in with Marcus let's make a little pit stop on New Vulcan. How far out of our way is it?" She asked sitting up, grabbing the data padd in thought.

"A few days." an understanding smile broke out on Brook's face. It would give them time to come up with something.

"How's Quinn?" he asked as he stood to relay the order.

"He's physically fine, he just needs to wake up," she replied with a sigh. Brooks nodded before exiting the room, leaving her with her thoughts.

-0-

She donned her dress uniform, she had never met Ambassador Spock before but if Kirk's stories of him were anything to go by this meeting should go well. She was hoping the Ambassador had some insight on what kind of monster she was facing, and if there was any hope of her stopping him.

"Captain Hill, Welcome to New Vulcan." Spock Prime stated in an almost warm manner.

"Thank you, Ambassador," she replied with a soft smile.

"I'm sorry to drop in on you like this, especially since we've never met." she chuckled good-naturedly.

"What brings you here Captain?" He continued as they moved to a more private meeting room.

"I'm sorry to say this visit is one of bad tidings. I need information and I'm hoping you have it." Spock nodded for her to continue.

"It's a long shot but have you heard of a man named Kahn Noonien Singh." if she hadn't been watching she would have missed it but she saw the look of pain flash across his features before they were gone.

"You have heard of him." She stated. Her breath coming in short.

"More than heard I'm afraid," he stated almost with a sad tone.

"He was the worst opponent we ever faced. He was ruthless and cunning, he would do anything for his crew. A very dangerous combination." he stated losing himself in thought.

"Would you mind showing me?" She asked with determination, knowing what she was asking was a very personal thing but she didn't have many options. He stared at her for a brief second before his mouth ticked up at the corner.

"You remind me of Jim, it's quite refreshing," he stated, before nodding to her to come forward so he could mind-meld with her. She blushed at the comparison, this was the second of Kirk's personal friends that had said that to her. Even if it wasn't the same Kirk they were talking about.

"Just relax this shouldn't hurt, but the transference should be...emotional." he paused at the last word. She nodded for him to continue. She closed her eyes as his fingers found the points on her face. The rush of images and emotions flooded her mind's eye, almost too fast for her to track. She saw that in his timeline the Enterprise was the one to wake Kahn, she saw him trying to take the ship from the enterprise crew and how he was marooned on Ceti Alpha V. She saw the time shift, she saw Kahn running amok again, and his ultimate destruction. She also saw the exchange between Spock and Kirk before Spock died. He pulled his fingers from her face, she sucked in a labored breath and tried to get herself in control. She reached up to her cheeks and wiped away a tear.

"You died?" she stuttered. He gave a curt nod.

"I did not mean to show you that particular memory. I believe you have the information you came for," he stated moving away from her to compose himself.

"Yes of course. Thank you," she stated standing and wiping her face quickly and shifting her clothes, composing herself as best she could.

"You were not in my time but I see that Jim cares for you deeply. Don't push him away, I have found this Kirk to be more...reliant on the people close to him, more so than I fear even he realizes." a strange feeling jolted through her chest at his words.

"Good luck to you Captain." she smiled softly and nodded again before leaving back to her ship. She made it all the way back to her quarters and collapsed on the bed. Mind melds took some getting used to. She tried to process the new information, trying to see how it could help her.

All that was certain was Kahn and Marcus were monsters. What could she do to stop men like them?

She broke out in a fit of laughter and couldn't stop there wasn't anything funny but she was so frazzled her body didn't know any other way to relieve the tension, her laughter slowly turned to tears. She was slowly switching between laughing and crying with no real reason. As her tears ran out, she tried to get her breathing under control laying in silence with her thoughts. After a few mintues, all her thoughts collided and she stopped thinking. She slowly drifted off hoping everything that was bothering her would disappear by the time she woke up, but the small voice in the back of her head was trying to tell her otherwise.

-0-

"Captain! Captain! Wake up!" She could hear a voice in the darkness, it took her a second to realize it wasn't a dream and someone was yelling for her through her door. She got up and padded over to the door.

"This better be good," she mumbled to herself as she ran a hand over her face and through her hair.

"Who is it and what do you want?" she grumbled through the door.

"It's Mathews Captain, Quinn is awake!" he chirped from the other side of the door. Her head shot up in the excitement and nearly ran into Mathews as she flew out the door.

"Thank you, Mathews." She called over her shoulder as she booked it to the med bay. He chuckled before heading back to the bridge. He wanted to be the one to tell her in person and he was not disappointed.

She usually didn't complain about the speed of the turbo lift but she was getting impatient willing it to move faster.

Finally, it opened and she nearly bowled over two of her crew members.

"Sorry" she threw out before rounding the corner and entered med bay. She saw him sitting up and talking to Brooks and her Chief Medical officer. When they saw her they grinned. She moved a little slower than she had through the hall. She stopped at his bed.

"I'm so glad you're awake." Quinn smiled a hint of relief lacing his voice.

"Shouldn't that be what I say?" she returned the smile.

"Did they have a chance to fill you in?" she asked her smiled dropping. His smile dropped as well.

"A few things. I'm sorry I got us into this mess. You make Captaining look easy." she snorted.

"I probably would have ended up in this mess same as you and as for making Captaining look easy, have you met me?" she asked laughing at herself.

"Your right I should have known." he chuckled at her mock glare.

"Smartass." the others laughed along.

"All joking aside I'm glad your alright." she smiled softly. He returned the look.

"Same here captain, same here."

"Alright now that we've got that out of the way. We've got some planning to do," she stated rubbing her hands together.

"Ah, ah no you wait until he's cleared before making plans." her chief medical officer broke in.

"Okay, fine. Once you're free meet me in my ready room. Brooks and I will be hard at work, overthrowing a power-hungry..." she stopped when she noticed their looks.

"Fine whatever, report to me when she clears you, we've got things we need to discuss." she waved flippantly before being ushered out by Brooks.

"Do you really think you should be talking so loud about things like that?" Brooks hissed as they stepped in the Turbo lift. Her mind jumped to the Admiral's threat.

"Even if they're on your side you're talking about taking down the commander-in-chief of Starfleet. You know the fleet admiral that's in charge of everything Starfleet." she rolled her eyes but know she should have been more careful, she was just happy Quinn was okay and awake.

"Come on Brooks, we've got some planning to do." he dropped his argument and grunted in response as they exited the turbo lift. She hoped beyond hope they could come up with something to stop the puppet and his master.


	16. Episode 16: Time Brings Changes

Two Months Later...

"Kahn finished the final pod and he's already loaded all his people into them," Quinn stated as they sat in her ready room, looking over the reports from the last week.

"Whatever move he's going to make he's going to make it soon," Brooks added leaning back in his chair letting out a sigh.

"I thought you were crazy for proposing to work with him. How do you know we can trust him?" Quinn added turning to Ramona.

"We can't trust him that's the point." She broke in as she looked over reports. The security report from the day before still hadn't come in, and she had an uneasy feeling.

"What's the old adage, keep your friends close and your enemy's closer," Brooks added with mild humor in his voice.

"Whatever he does will be on my head. I just hope he doesn't destroy something incredibly valuable," she stated with a humorless look, lightly tapping her fingers on the table in mild irritation.

"Knowing him, it'll be something big and bold. The perfect message to Starfleet." Quinn threw in his two cents.

"Maybe it'll wake them up a bit." Ramona gave a deadpan response. Not really believing what she was saying.

"Is it really worth the casualties?" Brook's eyebrow rose. Hoping she was kidding.

"Of course not," she responded knowing she would never wish that man on anyone.

The group was interrupted by the comm.

"Captain, security has finally reported in." She sighed, what now.

"Go ahead," she replied. Brooks and Quinn sat forward listening carefully.

"Kahn knocked out communication and they just got it back online. Kahn's escaped." Her blood ran cold. No matter how much she had prepared for this it still shook her, why had no one woken her when they lost contact. All the humor was gone now.

"...also this isn't as important but...um...Captain James T. Kirk has officially lost his command." the comm officer reported pausing unsure of the captain's response. The three occupants sat stunned.

"How?" she asked dumbfounded. Looking to the other two who looked as shocked as her.

"I'll send you the unofficial report, but he broke the prime directive...in a BIG way." and with that, the comm link ended. She sat back completely bewildered.

"What the Hell?" Quinn finally broke the silence. They all let out a small chuckle, but there was no humor in it.

"I mean I get why I got demoted but him, he's done that like every mission he's gone on. Why is it different now?" Quinn continued. Ramona picked up her data padd when the report came in. She read through the preliminary report and shook her head.

"He's never done anything like this," she commented handing over the data padd. Quinn and Brooks read through it quickly. Brooks let out a low whistle.

"Didn't think the kid had it in him to do something that crazy," he added.

"Hiding a space ship underwater, that's bold and incredibly stupid," Quinn stated with a small smirk.

"I bet Scotty was having a cow," Ramona stated with a small chuckle. After the amusement and shock wore off the real issue was weighing on the shoulders of the room's occupants.

"What are we going to do about Kahn?" Brooks finally broke the silence.

"We need to get to the torpedo's." She stated seriously.

-0-

"Where the hell did Marcus take those damn torpedo's?" She stated banging her hand on the table in frustration. They just got the report about section 31 and she knew Kahn had to be behind it, but she had no idea why. There wasn't anything valuable to gain from attacking it. They needed to get the torpedo's if they had any hope of stopping him.

"Shouldn't we be at the meeting with the other Captains right now?" Quinn asked raising his eyebrow at the captain.

"We weren't technically called in." she waved his comment off. Suddenly a startling realization hit her.

"Oh god, you don't think he'll attack the meeting do you?" she asked quickly. Quinn and Brooks looked shocked.

"How would he even know?" she nodded calming slightly. They were right, he was never privy to that kind of information.

"Alright back to the task at hand." she started looking back at her data padd.

"Sorry to interrupt Captain, but your being requested in sickbay. She said you're not allowed to skip, you've been putting off your check-up for the last two months."

"Captain!?" Quinn exclaimed in shock and frustration.

"You haven't had your checkup? Do you want to have a relapse and lose your motor functions again?" Brooks responded angrily.

"Alright, alright I'm going." Knowing they wouldn't let it go until she did as they said.

"Tell her I'll be there shortly." with that she left for sickbay.

"There's a possibility of war and they want me to get a physical." she mumbled sardonically to herself.

-0-

"Thank you for finally coming, Captain. Even if it was at the prodding of your officers." the chief medical officer chuckled to herself.

"How have you been feeling? Anything bothering you, any numbness?" she asked as she waved the scanner over Ramona.

"Now that you mention it I have been feeling a little nauseous and sore but everything else has been alright. I figured it was just residual side effect of the stress I'm currently under." Ramona added her mind on other issues. The doctor raised her eyebrow at the self-diagnosis.

"I'm going to take some blood and run a few tests." Ramona nodded.

"Wait here it should only take a few minutes." Her chief medical stated giving her a serious look. Ramona rolled her eyes but nodded. Ramona pulled out her data padd and looked through reports for any clues or ideas.

"The meeting should be starting in about now," she whispered as she checked the time. Maybe she should have gone, but she knew Marcus would be there and nothing she said would have made a difference, not to mention she would have been tried for treason instantly if Marcus thought for a second she was turning on him.

What was Marcus planning to do with the Torpedoes? She rubbed her temples, hating that man was her new favorite past time.

"Captain." Her medical officer's voice was soft. Ramona looked up her hand still on her temple, causing her head to tilt slightly to look at the doctor. She sat up straighter as she saw the disturbed look on the woman's face.

"What is it? Is the venom still in my system? I'm not relapsing am I, I would feel that right?" panic slowly creeping into Ramona's voice.

"Captain Hill." her doctor broke in, Ramona looked back to the doctor breaking from her rambling.

"You're pregnant." a small sad smile graced the medical officer's lips. Ramona gaped like a fish.

"How is that possible I'm up to date on all of my shots. Including the birth control one, especially that one." Ramona went back to rambling to herself.

"You were due for your shots a month after your accident, and since you were recovering from something we knew nothing about, you weren't updated on your shots. My thoughts were that McCoy was waiting until he knew you wouldn't react to basic inoculations, but you left before he could follow up. Not to mention you've been avoiding me for the last two months." the doctor finished with mild humor, trying to lighten the mood.

Ramona sat in silence running a hand through her hair. Of all the things that could happen to her. She wasn't sure if she should smile or cry. She hadn't thought about kids, she was too busy advancing her career. But now that it was staring her in the face, her thoughts were derailed from everything else. She turned to her medical officer.

"I..." Ramona didn't know what to say.

"I'll give you a minute to get your thoughts together." with that her doctor walked to the med bay office. Ramona slowly brought a hand up and hovered it over her lower abdomen before gently setting it on the nonexistent bump.

"I'm going to be a mom." her voice was shaky as she whispered to herself. Her own parents flashed through her mind. She looked to the ceiling willing herself not to cry. Her parents were good people, but if she learned anything from them it was that you couldn't be a Starfleet officer and have a happy family. Which brought up another dilemma to add to the ever-growing list. Would she stay in Starfleet and follow her dream-like her parents had or would she leave it all behind for her child? The tears fell, one hand covering her eyes, the other holding her abdomen.

-0-

After getting composed she excused herself from sickbay. She knew her medical officer was going to report this to Starfleet, she briefly wondered if they would try to use it to get her out of her command. Now she was switching between worrying about Kahn and figuring out how to tell her officers about the pregnancy.

"Captain there's word on the meeting..." Quinn stated looking up from a report, trailing off when he saw her face.

"Have you been crying? Was there something in the tests?" Brooks asked sitting forward.

"Don't worry, nothing life-threatening. Tell me about the meeting, what's the plan?" She stated calmly. Not believing her but not wanting to push the issue they continued.

"That's the thing, Kahn attacked the meeting. We haven't gotten the official casualty list yet, but Christopher Pike is dead. Which means Kirk is once again Captain of the Enterprise." Ramona sat back in the chair looking at the ceiling, he was a lucky son of a bitch.

"It looks like Marcus is fitting the Enterprise with some new high tech torpedo's. He's not letting anyone inspect them." Ramona sat forward suddenly looking at her first officer.

"Where are they heading?" She finally asked.

"If I had to guess Klingon space," Quinn answered.

"Shit." She groaned out. To take them back from the Enterprise would be impossible.

"Do we meet at the Klingon planet or intercept the Enterprise on the way home? Knowing Kirk he'll take him prisoner." Brooks added.

"We won't make it to the Klingon planet in time, but we can get to him before Marcus does," Ramona stated looking down in thought.

"But we don't stand a chance against the warship," Quinn added in concern.

"The advanced weapons upgrades are still being outfitted. Starfleet's been watching too closely since the trials. We've had to be careful what we do to upgrade the ship." Brooks stated in frustration.

"What can we have operational by the time we get there?" Ramona asked looking between the two.

"Our shields are the only thing that would be relatively quick and the most helpful against Marcus' warship," Brooks added after thinking about it for a second.

"Alright, we'll evacuate all nonessential personnel. This could be messy I don't need their lives on my already stained hands." Ramona flexed her spotless hands for emphasis.

"Won't that cause alarm?" Quinn asked raising his eyebrow.

"We're beyond that point. It's time to take action, we've waited long enough. Maybe too long." She stated determination lacing her voice.

After laying out a brief plan and getting the evacuation underway, Brooks stood up to get started on the upgrades.

"Captain. Before I go, what was the news from your check-up?" Brooks asked stopping short of the door turning to look at her.

"Yeah, I'd like to know too." Quinn chimed in.

"You can spare us the details, we just want to know you're alright," Brooks added when he saw her inner debate. After that comment, a small sad smile stretched across her face, which confused the two men.

"Well, it would seem I haven't been up to date on my shots. I left before my final follow up with McCoy." she started. The two-man waited in silence for her to continue.

"...and it would seem that I am in fact pregnant..." she continued trailing off waiting for it to sink in.

"I'm sorry, what?" Brooks asked perplexed. The look on Quinn's face was one of shock and confusion.

"Is it Kirks?" Quinn asked gently as not to upset her. She shot him a scathing look.

"Yes."

"Does he know...of course he doesn't you just found out." Quinn started to mumble to himself. Brooks stood at the door in shocked silence.

"Well thanks for the warm congratulations," she replied sarcastically, standing up to head back out to the bridge.

"Sorry, it's just of everything you could have said that was one of the last things on my list," Brooks added coming out of his stupor. He moved towards her.

"Congratulations Ramona. You'll be a wonderful mother." Brook's eyes softened as he rested his hand on her shoulder in support. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Thank you." a small smile graced her lips. Brooks gave her a nod and left the ready room. Quinn stood up.

"I'm happy for you captain like Brooks said that's the last thing we expected. At least one bit of happiness can shine out of this dark situation." Quinn smiled at her softly.

"Just promise not to do anything stupid," he added with a cheeky smile before leaving her alone in the ready room.

"Smartass," she whispered under her breath. She sat back at the table and tapped her fingers in thought.

-0-

"Captain we're picking up the Enterprise on scanners. They're returning from Klingon space." Mathews stated looking up from his comm.

"Alright send them a message, tell them it concerns the prisoner," Ramona ordered from her captain's chair.

"We need to get to him before Marcus does." She whispered under her breath.

Kirks surprised face popped up on the viewscreen.

"Ramona what are you doing all the way out here, and how do you know we have a prisoner?" He asked dropping formality.

"Now isn't probably the time to go into detail. Can I come aboard?" she asked hopefully.

"Sounds familiar." he rolled his eyes.

"James this is more important than us right now...Can I come aboard or not?" she asked losing all humor. She saw him nod to someone off-screen.

"See you in a few." and with that, he was gone. She let out an angry huff as she got up to head toward the transporter room.

"Not the shuttle?" Quinn asked.

"We don't have time for that right now. Tell them to get the transporter ready," she ordered before getting in the lift.

"Aye, Aye Captain," Quinn mumbled to himself. The ones around him gave an awkward chuckle.

She felt the familiar pull and lights as the transporter swirled around her.

"Welcome to the Enterprise, again," McCoy stated as he greeted her in the transporter room.

"You skipped out before I could finish your exams," McCoy stated with mild irritation.

"Don't worry about it, my medical officer followed up just fine." her voice coming out slightly cross. McCoy raised an eyebrow at her.

"That might be but I still would feel better doing one before you go," he stated taking out his scanner and waving it over her. She saw him look at the readouts with furrowed brows. He opened his mouth to say something when the doors opened.

"Not a word," she whispered quickly. He glared at her before stepping away.

"Ramona, what do I owe the pleasure?" Kirk stated with mild disdain.

"I need to talk to your prisoner." Kirk looked at her with surprise.

"Why?"

"Will you let me or not?" she replied sharper than she meant to.

"Follow me," he replied all humor gone. This is not how she expected their next encounter to go, but she didn't have time to worry about that right now.

They made their way in silence, McCoy kept shooting her varying looks. While Kirk kept his eyes forward.

"Make it quick, he's got a way about him," Kirk stated as they entered the brig. She didn't acknowledge as she stepped through the door. She saw Kahn standing in the middle of the cell when they came in. She saw a dark glint in his eyes when he saw her.

"Hello, Ramona."

"Kahn."


	17. Episode 17: Mixed Signals

"Hello Ramona."

"Kahn."

"You know him?" Kirk asked near his limit on secrets, barely containing the anger coursing through him.

"I was the one that woke him up," she stated not breaking her stare with Kahn.

"Under the order of Admiral Marcus, if I remember correctly," Kahn replied humoring the captain.

"Is that true?" Kirk asked grabbing her shoulder harder than he meant to. She looked him in the eye and nodded. She could see his world shifting dramatically.

"Shit."

"Why did you do this Khan?" she asked in an aggravated sigh stepping forward, shrugging Kirks hand off as she did.

"The same reason I did it the first time," he replied almost annoyed.

"The first time in your time or the first time when I woke you up?" she asked eyeing him. He gave her a small knowing smirk.

"Both. We were created to be better, we were created to be perfect. It's not our fault we were better than they or you expected." The glint in his eyes darkening.

"I see you're modest as ever." sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"We were trying to help you, and what do you do? Kill innocent people." She growled out, losing all humor now. Kirk took a step forward and intervened before Kahn could answer.

"You've been helping him?" the look of anger and betrayal written across his face. She opened her mouth to try to explain.

"It was her idea to put my people in the torpedoes," Kahn stated malice creeping into his voice, giving her the distinct impression he was not happy with how this was all playing out.

"I tried to get to them before Marcus, but you escaped and he took them before I knew what happened." she accused and defended.

"Starfleet ingenuity at work." wistful distaste lacing his tone. Kirk and Ramona made a noise in the back of their throat at the insult.

"Don't blame this on me, I didn't tell you to run. I didn't tell you to KILL people." she ground out. Getting tired of his mind games.

"If you had done as I said, you're people wouldn't be used against you. But no you had to be the big bad augment and take matters into your own hands." she waved her hands for emphasis. He merely smirked at her. Her patience was running thin.

"You think trusting you would have given me freedom, your not even free yourself." she felt a pang of truth run through her body before brushing it off.

"I was helping you and you betrayed me." she felt Kirk shift at her side and recognized the irony in the situation.

"Didn't you figure that was going to happen," Kahn replied watching her carefully, glancing at Kirk and his proximity to Ramona.

"Doesn't mean I enjoyed it, and I don't really appreciate you killing people to prove a point." her voice lackluster.

"Because you take responsibility for their deaths. Each one weighing on your shoulders. Every officer, every civilian, every child..." he watched her squirm under his insinuations, the corner of his lip twitched slightly.

"Yes, I do. They're all dead because of me." Her comment directed more to herself. She felt Kirk and McCoy move closer to her.

"Because I didn't have the courage to stand up to a lunatic." Her voice stronger as she continued. Kahn gave a small smile that curled his lip. Before anyone could respond the alarm rang.

"It was good to see you again Captain." his voice hauntingly sweet.

As they exited sickbay Ramona let out a heavy sigh and put her back against the wall, staring at the Brig doors in contempt.

"What the hell was that back there?" Kirk shot off angrily coming to stand in front of her, forcing her to push off the wall so there were chest to chest.

"As I said two months ago, there wasn't a lot of time to explain and there still isn't. If I'm correct and I most likely am. Marcus is knocking on your front door right now." Her voice firm but apologetic. He hailed the bridge and confirmed what she already knew. He moved to go to head to the turbo lift, without sparing her a glance. She could understand his anger. The closest thing to a father he had was gone and it was her fault. Her hand shot to stop him. Depending on how this went, this could be the last time they saw each other.

Before he could interrupt she brought both of her hands along his jaw and pulled his face to hers, kissing him deeply. He went stiff before slowly responding. She put everything she was feeling into that kiss, the unspoken things, the way she felt, a final goodbye. Kirk responded in kind with his own frustration, anger, and hurt. So much was said between the two without words. They broke away from each other and she rested her forehead against his closing her eyes.

"I'm sorry about before and now, the last few months haven't been ideal." a smile touched her swollen lips as she looked him in the eyes.

"Tell me about it." they both chuckled sadly.

"When this is all over we'll sit down and talk about everything." she continued.

"We'll sit at the same bar, where we first met." a smile tinted his lips. She felt her chest tighten. She hoped so. She smiled in return. They heard McCoy scoff behind them, pulling them apart.

"I should get back to my ship." Ramona broke in.

"I'll see you when this is all over," she added a sad smile taking hold of her features. She looked over his shoulder to McCoy.

"Not a word," and with that, the lights of the transporter whisked her away. McCoy grunted in frustration as Kirk gave him a questioning look.

"What was that about?" Kirk eyed his medical officer.

"She'll tell you and if she doesn't, I'll make her," McCoy growled out. Letting it go for now Kirk focused back on the task at hand.

"We need to get to the bridge."

-0-

As she rode the turbo lift an uneasy feeling settled in her stomach. Her hand found its way to her lower abdomen, she tipped her head back on the wall in thought. As she neared the bridge she stood up straight preparing to take on Marcus.

"Ah, Captain Hill so glad you could join us." Marcus's voice floated through the bridge. She saw Kirks face as well, he looked floored and angry at the same time.

"I was just telling Quinn and Kirk, how tragic that both the Enterprise and the Nova were lost after you both went rogue forcing me to hunt you down." His voice calm.

She heard Kirk trying to plead with Marcus for his crew. Ramona would have as well if she thought it would do any good, but she knew from experience they were walking into a shit storm of epic proportions.

"That's a hell of an apology. But if it's any consolation, I was never going to spare either of your crews." Marcus replied. He ordered them to start with the Nova more to gain from her death, more evidence to erase.

"Fire." Before she could blink the phaser struck her shield throwing everyone on the bridge.

"Shield strength 20%," Mathew reported.

"The shields are failing," she called over the comm to engineering, impatience flooding her voice.

"I said they would help I didn't guarantee they would work." Brook's voice rang out before he ended the comm.

"Fireback," she ordered trying to move to the panel. The first one hit the shield.

"Their shield is holding." Mathews shot out trying to stay upright. Marcus' ship fired another shot knocking out Ramona's shield.

"We can't take another hit," Quinn responded from her right. With no shield, the phaser fire would rip through her ship like tissue paper.

"Keep firing." she ignored him. She could feel her ship slipping through her fingers, again.

Kirks face popped up on the screen.

"Ceasefire, Scotty's on board that ship." she wanted to tell him they weren't really doing any damage, but before she could respond Marcus' warship sent another phaser their way. Knocking everyone on the bridge to the ground.

"Ramona!" Kirk's voice rang through the bridge. For once she was glad she was wrong about that thing ripping her ship in half but the damage was going to be beyond repair.

She pulled herself off the floor, sparks and panels exploding around the bridge.

"Damage report," she yelled out.

"We're in bad shape. Minimal life support. Hull breaches on Deck..." Quinn stopped when he noticed another report come in.

"There's a warp core breach." Brook's voice yelled over the chaos. All the blood ran from her face.

"Can you eject the warp core?" Knowing that if Brooks was telling her, there was no way to stop it.

"It's not working, we need to evacuate." Brooks rang out before ending the comm.

"Issue an abandon ship," she ordered to Mathews.

"Everyone out now," she ordered to everyone on the bridge.

"Sorry James we'll have to pick this up later." she gave him a quick half-smile. He looked like he was about to say something and she continued.

"If you've got a plan I would do it now, it looks like they're dead in the water. I'll have to thank Scotty when this is over," she stated before ending the comm.

"Captain the shuttles are away, it's You, Me, Brooks, and Mathews," Quinn stated looking over readings.

"Alright, let's go." She nodded before heading to the turbo lift.

"That's the thing the last shuttle bay door shield was damaged in the attack it needs a manual override from the bridge," Quinn stated stopping her in her tracks.

"Go, I'll stay and open the door." the thought was out of her mouth before Quinn could volunteer.

"Nice try." He shot back, giving her a sad smile.

"I'm the captain, the captain always goes down with the ship." she gave him a cheeky smile before it dropped.

"I think you forget that I was captain too." he gave her a look, a smile trying to make its way to his face.

"Also, I thought I told you not to do anything stupid. You've got more to live for than I do," he emphasized by pointing to her lower abdomen, the trademark smirk flashing across his face. In the chaos she forgot about the baby, she wasn't used to the idea of caring for another life yet.

"Adrian..." She started.

"Name your kid after me." they both smiled, she wanted to believe she could find him a way out but they both knew he wasn't going to make it.

"Captain let's go," Mathew stated from the side trying to pull the captain with him.

-0-

"There has to be a way to get him out before it blows," Brooks stated frustration lacing his voice.

"You think I would leave him on that damn ship if I could do something to help," she growled out. The shuttle shot out into space, Ramona slammed her down on the control panel in frustration.

"God Damnit," she growled out not liking the helplessness coursing through her.

"It was his choice," Mathews added silently trying to comfort the two but not liking the first officer's choice either.

"Doesn't mean I have to accept it." They answered together, they would have smiled if the situation wasn't so devastating.

"I'd do it all over again." Quinn's voice broke in over the comm. Interrupting the shuttle occupants wallowing.

"The ships are entering earth's atmosphere." He continued bringing the shuttle's attention to the two battling starships.

Ramona's fingers curled on the control panel. All those innocent people were going to be a stain on her conscience. How could she have let it come to this?

"You can't blame yourself for this," Brooks whispered placing a hand on her shoulder. She wasn't sure if he believed that or if it was the automatic thing to say with something like this.

Suddenly the Nova exploded sending a shock wave. She bowed her head and let the tears fall. Brooks sounded like he was choking on air. Mathews was openly sobbing and hitting the control panel.

They sat in silence with each other watching as the two ships plummeted toward earth. Her chest tightened, knowing she couldn't do anything to stop it.


	18. Episode 18: Starting Over

The shuttle made it back to earth, Ramona's heart soared when she saw the Enterprise still intact. The crew members that made it off the Nova were landing away from San Francisco. Ramona and the shuttle were landing at the nearest hospital to San Francisco, they didn't want to take up beds when they knew injured were coming.

"Once we get a clean bill of health we'll make our way over to help find survivors and..." the unspoken task hung in the air. They were in and out and bandaged. They were recommended to take it easy but the doctor knew they weren't going to listen.

"Sorry, I'm not very good at following my doctor's orders." she gave a sad smile trying to lighten the mood. He gave a nod of understanding.

"Come on let's go help clean up the city." ice ran through her veins, she wanted to make light of the situation like she always did but Quinn's death and the city in distress were gripping her like a vice. Brooks grabbed her shoulder to show his unspoken support.

-0-

They spent hours helping able bodies pull out the wounded from the rubble of the broken city. Ramona's body was sore and she couldn't remember the last time she ate, but she wasn't giving up, not here not now.

"Captain you have to take a break, your no good to us like this," Mathews stated softly as he watched her try to lift a large concrete rock and failing.

"We've done what we can, but crews with proper equipment are here. You can stop." Brooks added looking on with worry.

"I can't stop...all my fault...must make right." they heard her mumbling to herself as she sifted through the rubble. Brooks and Mathews shared a look before they could comment further, they were approached by a Starfleet security officer.

"I'm looking for Captain Hill. Dr. McCoy from the Enterprise requests her presence immediately." the officer stated looking at the trio. She stood up a lost look on her face.

"I'm a little busy," she grumbled before turning around.

"He said if you resisted to tell you why." the officer stated losing his patience.

"Yeah, and," she replied without turning around.

"Captain James T. Kirk is dead." she immediately dropped the metal pipe she had just picked up. It made a loud clanging as it hit the ground.

"You're lying." She hissed storming down the pile of rubble.

"Let's go" he stated glad she was finally willing. She gestured for him to lead the way. She would have left the man in the dust if she knew where she needed to go. Brooks and Mathews were quick to follow.

"Are you sure you don't want to clean up first? This is a hospital after all." The security officer asked looking the trio over with mild curiosity. She ignored him as she walked through the doors. It only took her a second to find him, she finally understood how he felt when he saw her in the tube, but this was so much worse. He was already gone and she had no way of telling him or even explaining to him everything that happened, in the back of her mind she always thought there would be time.

She stood in silence just looking at him on the bed, it took McCoy a second to notice her. He took in her disheveled state but kept his mouth shut. He moved to talk to her, he saw that she had already been crying and she looked as if she were about to collapse.

"Wha...wha...?" her voice was barely above a whisper and she couldn't bring herself to ask what happened. McCoy put his hand up to put it on her shoulder and she slumped to the ground. He knelt down quickly, demanding a tricorder as he did.

"You haven't been taking care of yourself." He growled in more of a statement than a question. She just stared ahead not looking at anything, first Quinn was gone and now Kirk, her head was spinning. The tears fell but she had no intention of stopping them, she wasn't even aware that she was crying. The tears made tracks through the dirt on her face.

"Ramona, speak to me." McCoy finally broke through her haze and she swung her head in his direction the same way a toddler would. He had Brooks help him pull her up they made to move her but she finally snapped out of the haze and moved to Kirks bedside. She wanted to throw herself over him the same way the women in the old movies did but she didn't have the energy. She put her hand on his forehead and kissed him gently on the mouth.

When she pulled away she noticed spots of dirt where her tears had landed. She moved to wipe them away but one look at her hand, had her pulling back.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice thick from crying. She stood in silence looking at him, McCoy moved to talk to her but Brooks pulled him back and they had a silent conversation with their eyes.

-0-

"After reviewing your personal data logs we have determined your innocence in the matter." One of the court admirals stated. She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.

"Not to work against myself but wouldn't reviewing my data logs show my guilt, more than my innocence." she stated cautiously. The admirals gave her varying smirks or smiles.

"In normal circumstances yes but due to the sensitive nature of this inquiry and your current circumstances, we believe it is in the best interest to end this quickly and quietly as possible." The admirals looked almost abashed at the situation. She was starting to get the picture.

"Ah I see, the longer the 'inquiry' the more media attention it gets and after the debacle with Admiral Marcus, imprisoning a pregnant captain could be a media circus you don't need. There will be a lot of damage control and getting everyone's trust back will be a long road...I take it you want my resignation and my silence." she nodded as she rattled off her thoughts.

-0-

Ramona left the briefing room stretching as she did. Brooks came up on the right his briefing taking less time.

"They ask you to keep your mouth shut too." She asked as they walked out the main doors. Not noticing Kirk and McCoy standing to the side waiting.

"They don't need the public knowing how little control they had over their head of Starfleet." She nodded in agreement, yawning as she did. She quickly changed the subject.

"I've been really tired lately," she mumbled not noticing McCoy and Kirk were following close behind the two.

"Well isn't that a side effect of being pregnant?" Brooks smirked at her as she huffed before they broke out in mild laughter. Kirk stopped short, processing the new information and his thoughts went back to something Kahn mentioned to him before they space jumped.

_"I see you two are close," Kahn murmured as they suited up._

_"What makes you think that," Kirk stated not looking at him but clearly giving himself away. Kahn ignored his comment and continued on._

_"It's a shame you never pursued her, she's a very giving woman." a smirk twisted Kahns face before he put on his helmet. Kirk tried to ignore the dig but he could feel his knuckles straining as he clenched his fists._

Kirk brought himself out of his thoughts and saw McCoy's eyebrow raised at him, not commenting on Kirks clenched fists. He looked to the other two and noticed that they had stopped and were talking to an ensign if he remembered correctly it was Ensign Mathews. They were smiling joking but Kirk could see the tone change, most likely to the missing first officer.

Kirk was still upset with Ramona about everything that happened but after being revived a few days earlier, all he wanted to do was find her and make sure she was okay. He had found out she was going to be on 'trial' today, so he dragged McCoy with him to catch her. He knew she was told he was alive and knew that she was given no time to come to see him, so he wasn't upset about that. It was everything else that he needed to get straight.

Before he knew what happened he was being tackled, he caught the person and himself before they plummeted to the ground.

"I'm so relieved to see you, I was going to come to visit after I changed," Ramona mumbled into his shoulder. He wanted to be mad, but he kept his mouth shut and pulled her closer.

"I've got so much to tell you." She finally broke away looking up at him overjoyed he was still alive. He felt his heart melt a little, he couldn't remember the last time someone looked at him the way she was right now. Like he was wanted.

"Like being pregnant?" Kirk blurted out before thinking. Her smile fell slightly and she looked to McCoy, who shook his head holding up his hands in defense.

"I wanted to be the one to tell you. How did you find out?" She asked quietly.

"You did, just now. Well, I guess technically it was Brooks." Kirk rambled slightly. She let out a sigh of relief.

"Is it Kahn's?" He asked trying to stay calm. She reeled back as if he had slapped her.

"I...I...don't even know how to react to that, what makes you think I would let him..." she couldn't even finish her sentence.

"He said something to me..."

"And you believed him, he played with people's minds for fun," she stated getting a little steamed.

"It's your baby you jackass." she shot out, he felt like he was just punched in the gut. She pulled back crossing her arms, she wished she could have delivered it differently but she should have known that it wouldn't be normal.

Brooks, Mathews, and McCoy watched with mild humor as the two bickered back and forth now that the ice was broken. They had more to say to each other but that would come later.

"I heard what happened with Quinn. I'm sorry." Kirk changed the tone quickly. Her smile disappeared.

"Yeah, he practically threw me on the shuttle." she smiled sadly. Kirk pulled her into his arms, she burrowed into his shoulder.

"Even joked I should name the baby after him like he knows it's going to be a boy," she mumbled chuckling sadly.

"Well you know that's not a bad idea," he stated still not use to the idea of being a parent but playing along with the conversation.

"You'd be okay with that?" She asked pulling back to look at his face. Wondering how he was accepting this so easily when she was freaking out on the inside.

"Yeah I mean I guess, so," he started thinking about it.

"I don't know it would be nice but if it's a girl...we'll talk about that later," she stated shaking her head to clear her mind, still uncomfortable with the idea.

"How about we go out and celebrate?" she stated addressing the ones around her. They shot her weird looks.

"Oh don't give me that, we need to go out and celebrate being alive, free from a life of crime, and to honor the dead." Her voice got softer toward the end.

"Sounds good to me...I take it you're paying?" Mathews finally responded getting a chuckle from the group.

"Sure."

-0-

_One Year Later..._

"There will always be those who mean to do us harm. To stop them, we risk awakening the same evil within ourselves. Our first instinct is to seek revenge when those we love are taken from us. But that's not who we are. We are here today to rechristen the U.S.S. Enterprise, and to honor those who lost their lives nearly one year ago. When Christopher Pike first gave me his ship he had me recite the Captain's Oath, words I didn't appreciate at the time. Now I see them as a call for us to remember who we once were, and who we must be again..."

Ramona stood in the crowd holding her three-month-old, pointing to the stage.

"See it's daddy," she whispered to the child before kissing his head. She felt someone come upon her right.

"It's been a while I didn't think you'd make it," Ramona stated with a smile.

"And miss this you'd be crazy to think otherwise," Brooks muttered with a smile.

"Well excuse me." she chuckled.

"I'm surprised he's doing so well in a crowd," Brooks stated gesturing to the gurgling little baby.

"I'm sure when they get noisier he'll be fussy but he's getting used to the attention." she smiled fondly missing the speech ending.

"Too much like his parents I suppose." He joked before getting slightly more serious.

"How are you and the Captain doing?" She didn't notice as people moved around them to head to the exits or find friends.

"I'm not going to lie the first few months were rough, there was a lot we needed to talk about, and throwing a baby in the mix wasn't ideal but we've managed not to kill each other." A smirk gracing her features.

"What have you been up to?" she asked changing the topic.

"Got a job overseeing the engineering of new ships. What about you?" she was a little surprised but wasn't going to question it.

"Starfleet is letting me teach linguistics at the academy. I just have to take some courses to get to professor status, but once I can stand to be apart from this little guy I'll be teaching new cadets." She smiled down at her son as he fussed. It wasn't until she felt an arm wrap around her waist that she finally looked around. Kirk kissed her temple and greeted Brooks.

"Hello little man, did you see me up on stage?" the baby gurgled happily as he was transported from one parent to the other.

"I still can't believe we have a kid. I mean look at it, this is mine." Kirk proclaimed looking at the small child.

"Would you stop calling him it." her voice laced with exasperation like they had this conversation many times before.

"Can't help it." he grinned at her. She rolled her eyes but the smile wouldn't wipe itself away.

"What's his name again?" Brooks finally broke in looking slightly ashamed for not remembering. She gave him a look but smiled all the same.

"Christopher Adrian Kirk."


	19. Episode 19: Epilogue

10 years later...

Ramona stood with her son on the back porch looking up at the sky, watching the colors change across the landscape as the sun went down. She leaned on the porch railing letting the week wear off, her classes were going great she loved her students it just took a lot out of her to work full time and take care of a rambunctious child. They could see a few stars starting to appear, Chris waited until the sun had completely set before breaking the silence.

"Mom, was I the reason you left Starfleet?" She spared a glance at him a smile gracing her lips, she was wondering when he was going to ask this. After Brook's visit last week, he was starting to question her past in Starfleet.

"No." she kept it simple for a reason, she knew he had something to follow up with. His face lit up and she was reminded of James when he won an argument.

"Good so you won't have a problem with me joining Starfleet like you and dad." It was more of a statement than a question. She chuckled softly. He was meant for greatness anyone who looked at him could see he was a force to be reckoned with, he was like a hurricane of passion and ingenuity.

"We'll see." she tried to hold her mom look but a smile stretched across her face.

"Dad's coming home soon, I can ask him then." His blue eyes shining with determination. It was only a matter of time before he asked about joining, after his first visit to the enterprise when he was five she knew he was hooked.

"You can, it should only be a few more days, there were some minor delays." Her expression changed to one of worry as she looked back up into the sky. She feared the nagging worry would never go away, it hadn't after 10 years. She felt Chris' smaller hand slid into her own.

"They'll be okay," he said softly. Her heart swelled at his compassion. She wished she could hide her worry better but Chris was more observant than she gave him credit for.

"I know. Your father is the luckiest man I've ever known." a small smile graced her lips as she squeezed his smaller hand in reassurance. She took one final look at the sky before heading inside, Chris following close behind.

"Can I stay over at Greg's house tonight?" he asked carefully, by the look on his face he was up to something so she decided she would test it.

"It's a little late, let me give his parents a call to see if it's alright." she stated with a 'concerned' tone. Chris looked panicked for a brief second before playing it off.

"Yeah I guess your right, it is pretty late. I forgot to call him about it earlier." he covered quickly with a fake crestfallen look. She crossed her arms slowly and gave him a look.

"Well alright then, go get ready for bed." He throws his head back in exasperation and groans but stomps off down the hall. She grabs her data padd and logs into the monitors on her son's windows. She could hear him stomping around and carrying on before it got a little too quiet. Suddenly the padd chimed that the monitor on the window had been opened. She shook her head in annoyance, when would he learn.

"Chris, did you brush your teeth?" She called down the hall. She heard shuffling and thump and looked back at the monitor, the window had been closed.

"Yes," he grumbled down the hall.

"Come out here so I can check." she shot back, hearing him grumble and groan as he made his way back out into the living room. She locked the windows in his room and logged out of her padd before he emerged from the hallway. After a once over that he was ready for bed, she let him wander back to his room. She heard him shuffling and moving followed by a soft grunt and groan. She assumed he discovered she had locked his window and a satisfied smile stretched across her face. Little devil had a serious habit of sneaking out, she wondered if Chris was more like James or her at that age. She liked to think it was James, but if her Grandparent's looks of poetic justice were anything to go by she was just as bad at his age.

She spent a few hours going through her student's homework she didn't want to leave it all until Sunday night, finally calling it she headed to bed. She popped her head into Chris' room. He was sprawled out on his bed pajamas riding up us tummy, she chuckled as she tucked his legs under the covers and pulled his pajama top down. She kissed his forehead before heading to her own room. She thought after all this time the room wouldn't seem so empty. She cuddled up to his pillow and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning she headed into the kitchen to get breakfast ready. As she turned on the stove she headed to Chris' room to wake him up.

"Chris it's time to wake up..." her voice drifted off as she took in the empty bedroom. She wiped a hand over her face in frustration.

"Not again." she groaned. She didn't know how he got out this time, she was slightly impressed. She called her grandparents to give them a heads up and to share in her frustration.

"No I don't think he's in any trouble, he's just restless. James is coming home in a couple of days and he acts out more." she sighed as she glanced up at the comm screen.

"Yeah thanks, gran. I didn't think I was that bad." she chuckled as her grandmother told an amusing story of a time she snuck out. She failed to notice a figure come into the living room. She turned around just as she got off the comm.

"Jesus you scared me." a relieved smile stretched across her face and she moved to greet him.

"I take it Chris took off again." more of a statement than a question having heard the gist of the conversation. She gave him a what do you think face. He chuckled before slipping his arms around her waist, she slid her arms over his shoulders.

"We're you this much trouble as a child?" he asked as he kissed her. She savored his kiss before answering.

"I can't imagine you were much better." They chuckled softly and shared another kiss.

"Does this mean we get the house to ourselves?" he asked raising an eyebrow suggestively.

"He likes to show up randomly, so no." a smile curled her lips ruefully. She pulled him in kissing him deeply, her hands tangling in his hair. She was going to enjoy the time they had.

"Dad your home!" they heard a loud voice blast through the room. Ramona pulled back and rested her forehead on James' shoulder trying to get control.

"Yeah, and I see you ran off again. You have to stop giving your mom such a hard time." James scolded lightly. Chris looked down guilty.

"Yeah I wanted to see a friend," he stated shuffling his feet, not looking at either of them. Ramona raised an eyebrow at the act, sharing a look with James. He was totally lying.

"This friend wouldn't happen to be a girl, the one that just moved in down the street," Ramona asked crossing her arms, giving the boy a teasing smirk. James tried to hide the smile as a blush shot across his son's face. James couldn't contain his laughter anymore, their son flushed darker. James got himself under control and went to give his son a hug.

"So besides chasing girls what have you been up to?" James asked pulling back keeping a hand on his sons shoulder. His demeanor changed in an instant at the change in topic.

"Hold on I gotta get my captain's logs," he stated excitedly before shooting off down the hall to his room. James looked at Ramona in confusion.

"He didn't want you to miss anything." She replied softly going back into the kitchen to clean up the maybe breakfast and start on lunch.

"Oh and he's going to ask you about joining Starfleet." He came up behind her wrapping his arms around her waist kissing her neck. She smiled.

"Yeah, and what did you say?" he asked between kisses.

"I said we'll see." a smirk played across her lips. He pulled back and groaned.

"Why are you putting it on me to say no." he rested his forehead on her shoulder.

"We don't have to say no," she mumbled with a chuckle.

"Oh really?" he replied humor lacing his tone.

"Yes really." they fell in silence as she cleaned.

"I missed you," he mumbled into her neck as he kissed along her jumping pulse. She rolled her head back, she had missed him too. She was going to reply but Chris came bounding back in the room up onto the barstool. James moved away with a kiss to the cheek before joining his son at the kitchen counter. Ramona worked on lunch as she listened to the two catch up. James would shoot her looks now and then when a story included her. Especially when it came to a story about a particularly persistent student.

They spent the day catching up. A few hours after dinner Chris was starting to crash.

"I think it's time for someone to go to bed," Ramona whispered softly as Chris slumped, she moved to pick him up but James swooped in quicker and carried him off to bed. Ramona waited at the kitchen counter for him to return. James made his way silently to the liquor cabinet and pulled out a scotch. He made the drinks and set them in front of her.

"This seems familiar," Ramona whispered a soft smile gracing her features. A flash of Risa making its way into her thoughts, they hadn't been there in years. She missed the peace it brought.

"Do you miss it?" James finally asked. She gave a half-smile before taking a drink.

"I did for a while, but I enjoy what I do now. And I get to spend more time with Chris." Her smile sincere. He ran a hand through his hair.

"I feel like I'm missing out on so much of his life." his voice strained, taking another long drink. She pulled his arm down and took his glass.

"Don't. Don't do this to yourself. He understands what you do is important, and he makes the most of it when your home. He even wants to follow in your footsteps. I can't promise you won't miss things but he'll defiantly tell you about it." a sad smile graced her lips. He seemed to be satisfied with the answer, he picked up his drink and stared into it for a few minutes.

"I just remember what I was like as a teen and...shit. I was awful." he groaned out. She laughed softly.

"So was I, doesn't mean I can't take care of it. We've raised him right. Minus the occasional sneak out he's a good kid. He knows we care for him, knows we would do anything for him." she replied grabbing his hand and pulling it to her face kissing the inside of his palm. He cupped the side of her face and ran his thumb along her lip.

"I missed you," he whispered leaning in to kiss her deeply. She leaned into the kiss pushing her drink away softly.

"I missed you." her voice soft and wistful. They spent the next few hours catching up and drinking. They laughed, they argued, and everything in between. They always got it all out on the first day, it was how they were still so strong after all this time and distance. After a few more glasses of scotch, they were getting to the end of their night.

"How about we head to the bedroom?" Her voice dropping seductively, the alcohol buzzing pleasantly in her system. A smirk made it across his face. They got up to head to the room. He paused just at the door and glanced down the hall to Chris' room.

"The rooms soundproof right?" he asked after a moment. A smile slid across her face.

"What do you think? Especially after the close call last time." she raised an eyebrow as she pulled him the rest of the way into the bedroom. She tugged a little harder than intended and they landed roughly on the bed. He kissed her deeply, the alcohol humming through his system. When he came up for are he looked down at her with a deep stare.

"I love you."

"I love you too," she murmured back before unexpectedly rolling him onto his back. He stared up in surprise before it slowly slid into a lazy smirk.

"I think it's time to get reacquainted."

-End-


End file.
